Seniors' Walk on Hirakud Dam for Anti-polythene Awareness

SAMBALPUR: This Gandhi Jayanti, senior citizens of the city would wage a peaceful fight against one of major pollutants of present time - polythene.

More than 1,000 city dwellers above the age of 50 will participate in a walk across Hirakud Dam against the use of polythene on the day.

The first of its kind event, titled ‘Seniors’ Walk’, will be organised by Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) in collaboration with Clean Sambalpur Youth Forum (CSYF) and JCI Sambalpur, Global.

The walk will be flagged off at Nehru Minar on Burla side of the Dam and will culminate on the other side of the Dam covering a distance of 4.6 km. Later, the participants will walk down to Jawahar Udyan where they will showcase their talent.

Convener of the CSYF, Mohit Nayak, who is also co-ordinator of the event said massive preparation is being made for the purpose. The registration of the participants began on September 24 and more than 700 people have already registered their names.

The senior citizens, who are interested to participate in the event, can also register their names online or through SMS.

Extensive publicity on the Seniors’ Walk is being made to attract maximum participation. Hoardings on the event have been put up at Sambalpur, Burla and Hirakud to attract participation, said Nayak.

He further said buses have been arranged to pick up the participants from different points of the city to Nehru Minar. The pick up points are District Collectorate, Hirakud Bus Stand, Maneswar Bus Stand, Themra Chowk, Malti Gunderpur Chowk and Sindupank Chowk.

Preparation is being made to involve seniors from villages which have been included in the newly formed SMC.

The objective of the event is to spread awareness about the disadvantages of use of polythene and Gandhi Jayanti is the best occasion to hold such an event, said Nayak.

On March 22, a marathon was organised to spread awareness about the disadvantages of the use of polythene.