Sambalpur, Oct. 3: The municipal corporation here organised a walkathon for senior citizens to raise awareness against the use of polythene.
Sambalpur MLA Raseswari Panigrahi, Rengali MLA Ramesh Patua and Sambalpur Development Authority chairperson Bijaya Mohanty flagged off the event as hundreds of elderly people walked from Nelson Mandela Chhak to PHED Ground yesterday.
Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) collaborated with Clean Sambalpur Youth Forum and JCI, Sambalpur Global for the event titled "Seniors' Walk".
The one-and-a-half hour walkathon started from Nelson Mandela Chhak and passed through Golebazar Chhak, Laxmi Talkies Chhak, G.M. College Chhak and Budharaja before culminating at the PHED Ground.
"Our aim was to create awareness among people about the adverse effects of polythene and Gandhi Jayanti was the best occasion to organise an event to create awareness about cleanliness," said co-ordinator of Clean Sambalpur Youth Forum Mohit Nayak.
"The district administration and several social organisations extended support to the event," he said.
The event was supposed to be held at Hirakud Dam and adequate arrangements were also made. However, it was later shifted to Sambalpur.
"I am really happy to be part of the campaign against the use of major pollutants such as polythene. It poses a threat to the environment," said a Raj Kishore Sethi, a participant.
Environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh and deputy chief whip of BJD legislative party Rohit Pujari attended the concluding ceremony organised at PHED Ground.
Sambalpur district collector Balwant Singh, additional police superintendent S.K. Panigrahi, divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi and other higher official also were present to encourage the participants. Around 1,000 plants were also distributed among people.
Use of polythene bags below 40 microns have been prohibited in the city from February 15. On March 22, a marathon was organised to create awareness about the use of polythene in Sambalpur. Around 1,200 participants had taken part in that event.
