No battle has ever been this colourful. Every nook and corner of Kozhikode and Malappuram districts sports colourful hoardings by the fans of various football teams that fight for the World Cup. They hailed their team as the best and even made fun of their arch rivals in a sportive manner.
The battle of the hoardings started weeks ahead of the Kick-off. Individual cut-outs of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar were seen decorating even the rivers and paddy fields. But not many cared that the environment would be a casualty in the process.
The political parties have in principle agreed to refrain from using the PVC flex boards in the State as per a decision made in a State-level all-party meeting earlier in April this year. But the hoardings put up by the football fans associations have sabotaged the government’s efforts to implement the green protocol in the State.
“We have been encouraging merchants to give up flex boards. But they can be pardoned because it is a matter of their livelihood. But the football fans are creating an unnecessary problem,” said R.S. Gopakumar, Health Officer attached to Kozhikode Corporation.
NGT order
The government machinery is incapable of taking any firm action against people who put up flex boards as there is no specific government order against it. “There is a National Green Tribunal order issued in 2015 against use of flex boards. But the order is ineffective without a State backing,” said Kripa Warrior, District Programme Officer of Suchitwa Mission.
Meanwhile, football fans claim that they have reduced the number of flex boards this season compared to the previous editions of the World Cup. “We support green protocol and have directed all our members to reduce the use of flex boards. We have erected only 50% of the number of boards that we put up during the previous world cup,” said N.V. Subair, president of Nainamvalappu Football Fans Association in Kozhikode.
The club has also made good use of the compound walls and walls of houses in the locality to substitute flex boards. “We don’t use cloth in place of flex, as the images do not come out well in the material,” Mr. Subair said. The flex boards would be later given to the needy to fix the leakage on tiled roofs of houses.
There are also claims that flex boards do not create any pollution as they are always re-used. “We don’t usually find flex clogging the drains or causing any sort of environmental damage. They are usually used to substitute tarpaulin sheets for various purposes. They have a resale value and hence is not abandoned after use,” said Babu Parambath, Project Coordinator of Niravu Vengeri, that takes care of Kozhikode Municipal Corporation’s plastic recycling unit.
However, Mr. Babu’s complaint is that the youth of the country are wasting their money on flex boards and supporting another country, when they could use it for much productive activities.
