BJP fails to keep its green promise in Kerala

Kozhikode: The organisers of the BJP’s national council meeting to be held here from Friday to Sunday have thrown to the winds the concerns about environment, going by the flex boards and banners that have flooded the city. It was earlier promised to be an  eco-friendly and plastic-free mega event, but now the city is fully  decorated with the pictures of the  party’s  national leaders heralding the event happening in the city after 50 years.  Each leader is portrayed in separate banners and boards making their presence felt everywhere in  the district.

“We have received an order to make more than 1,000 flex boards and banners printed in plastic sheets and cloths, of which 500 have been delivered already,”  said Mr N. Prakashan of the flex boards company at Palayam.   “Our company has   taken the contract for fixing them in various parts of the city.  The boards of national leaders are to be put up  as per their  seniority. At beach alone, we have placed more than 150 flex boards,” he  said.

Mr Shoukath Ali,  lead campaigner of Green Kozhikode mission, expressed his concern over the environmental threat to the city.   “The national council meeting which is dedicated to its ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya who became the president of the Jan Sangh, the BJP’s forerunner,  is a high-profile  event that Kozhikode  will witness after a long gap.  But the city should not be ruined and packed with plastic waste by the time it ends,”  he said.

He added that weeks before the event banners and boards had occupied  every area  in the city.  “There were many  options open to the party to conduct an eco- friendly event,” he said.   According to sources from the national council organising committee, no measures have been taken for waste management of the programme which will be attended by over 3,000 delegates  from various parts of the country.