The Hindu         09.10.2014   

Mayor writes to political parties to discard flex boards 

: Mayor Tony Chammany has written to political parties and religious organisations to join the campaign against use of flex boards.

Letters were written to the district leadership of CPI (M), Congress, BJP, CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress and Janatha Dal urging them to abstain from using flex boards as publicity materials. Besides causing ecological damage, the indiscriminate use of publicity materials has been defacing the city. It should be through effective and quality actions not through flex boards that the messages of political parties and organisations should reach the masses, he said.

The Mayor has also written to socio-religious organisations like NSS, SNDP, KPMS, various churches and Muslim organisations and feeder organisations in this regard.

Though the civic body had been removing the unauthorised publicity materials regularly from the city, they resurface after short intervals. Kochi Corporation was duty bound to free the city from the negative cultural influence of flex boards, he said.

The flex sheets, which take long time to decompose, has been blocking canals and drains in the city, leading to water logging and related issues. The burning of flex boards and plastic materials will also cause severe health hazards. The State government has taken a bold decision to curb the use of such materials and the Kochi Corporation will support the State government in this initiative, the letter read.