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.