I recently started volunteering with Arappor Iyakkam, which is a civil society organization that fights for an accountable government. I had been following their work for the past 6 to 7 years, and now that I have some time to spare, I decided to spend at least one day a week volunteering with them.

The first activity that I participated was the audit of the tenders that were given out by the Greater Chennai Corporation for restoring water bodies. These were for works like deepening the lake or pond and constructing bunds and pathways around them.

It is well known that, the tenders given to contractors for public works are a major source of corruption, and it was heartening to see common citizens banding together to make sure our tax money is not wasted.

I picked two water bodies viz. Karuppan Kulam and Vairavan Pond, both near Ambattur. As instructed by the coordinator I visited both the water bodies, took extensive photographs of the restoration work that was underway and also talked to a few residents to gather information on when the work carried out and submitted them.

Volunteering with them has shown a glimpse of the extensive field work they do and the effort involved.

One gripe was that I did not receive enough visibility of the overall progress of the project. There was only one full time employee who coordinated all the volunteers through WhatsApp. He was clearly overburdened, and I could not expect him to worry about volunteer engagement.

I am hoping to see more information on this campaign in the coming months and see how effective it is.