Alagana Kovai - Anniversary Celecbrations
Anti-plastics campaigns need more consumer awareness and patronage. As it gears up to celebrate the anniversary of its clean environs programme, ‘Alagana Kovai,’ on June 29, the Residents’ Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) has appealed to traders to avoid using plastic bags that day. Alagana Kovai Day will highlight the ground covered by the association so far in sensitising people to the need to keep one’s own environs clean, without waiting for the civic body to remove garbage. According to RAAC, a number of colonies have been covered under the clean environs drive. Every third Sunday, the residents of each colony remove garbage and debris, remove blocks in storm water drains and fill potholes on roads with mud. Apart from this programme, RAAC along with ITC will carry out a scheme to collect all kinds of paper waste and plastic carry bags. This is also expected to take off on Alagana Kovai Day. The association is also assisting the Coimbatore Corporation in planning and implementing the civic body’s anti-plastics drive. Using Alagana Kovai Day to sensitise people on the ill-effects of non-biodegradable and non-recyclable plastics, the association will provide one cloth bag for every 10 plastic bags collected from the people. A mass awareness programme will be conducted on June 28 and 29 in association with the district administration, the Corporation and the Education Department.
Siruthuli, a public initiative to conserve water resources will also participate in the programme along with school and college students, a press release from the association said. The objective of the programme could be met only with the participation of the traders, namely shops and departmental stores. The association appealed through a release to the traders to not give plastic bags to customers on June 29. This way, they could also show their concern for the environment, the association said. The one-day no-plastics drive was on the lines of a programme in Singapore, it said.
