Activists walk to say no to plastic

BANGALORE: What better day than Christmas to spread the awareness message about avoiding the usage of plastic carry bags? With placards stating ‘Say No to Plastics’ members of NKS Kutumba, a city-based NGO began their walk from Lalbagh West Gate towards Krishna Rao Park, Basavangudi, Gandhi Bazar and then back to Lalbagh on Sunday.Flagging off the walkathon, B G Rudrappa, former chairman, Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB), related about the ill effects of plastic bags as they do not decompose even after several years and highly dangerous. Speaking to Express about their initiative, NKS Narendra Kumar, a member of the organising committee said, “I go for morning walk at Lalbagh every morning. Every day I used to see the cart vendors selling fruits outside Lalbagh giving plastic carry bags. One day, it struck me and I wanted to do something to stop the usage of plastic carry bags. We are working in this direction from the month of April.”“Early on Sunday morning, we began with a walk from Lalbagh West Gate. A few of our members enacted a small skit which was based on avoiding plastic carry bag usage at Krishna Rao Park. We then moved to Gandhi Bazar speaking to public creating awareness about ill effects of plastic usage,” he added. Narendra said, “We also carried big plastic carry bags along with us for demonstration. We asked people to cover themselves with it and after 30 seconds we asked them about how they felt. All of them had the same answer, that they were feeling suffocated.”The members distributed 300 cloth bags to the public and asked them “please carry your own bags.” The message was loud and clear for the public to understand the ill effects of plastic on our environment.