Vehicle users and pedestrians near the New Bus Stand in the city on Sunday were taken by pleasant surprise to spot a group of three persons, including a woman, distributing National Flags free of cost.
The National flags were not the regular one made of plastics, but flags made of paper. They were fixed to small bamboo sticks.
It was the initiative of M. Thiagu Thomas, a social worker of Yercaud, to create awareness on the need to do away with plastic flags and instead use paper flags.
Mr. Thomas, a petty trader selling dolls on the roadside, has spent from his pocket to fetch 1,000 paper flags and bamboo sticks. He pasted the paper flags on the bamboo sticks. The same were distributed today by Mr. Thomas, his wife P. Susheela and a friend G. Kannan, auto driver by profession. While handing over the paper flags to the passersby, the trio explained the ill-effects of using articles made of plastics and urged them to shun plastics. There has been good response from the public, particularly from the younger generation. “All who got the flags today promised to do away with plastics and take steps to create awareness among others,” Mr. Thomas says.
