Kolkata: For the first time 286 ploggers removed waste materials at Eco Park on Wednesday morning as part of an initiative to mark the World Environment Day.
Plogging is the Swedish fitness practice for people, who want to save the planet. The term is a mash-up of jogging and the Swedish "plocka upp," meaning pick up. It is an exercise of picking up garbage while jogging
DebasishSen, chairman, New Town Kolkata Development Authority, flagged off the run of 286 ploggers from Gate No. 2 of Eco Park at 6:15 am to the Eiffel Tower.
Each plogger was provided with a bag made of reused cloth, a plogger's cap and rubber gloves.
Earthen pot was used as dispenser for drinking water. Use of plastic bottles or other plastic material was consciously avoided to discourage people from using non-biodegradable materials.
The event started at 6.15 am. Registration had opened from 5.30 am. Three electric buses plied in different pre-defined routes to bring in people from their localities. Altogether, 143 pairs took part in the initiative.
Two routes starting from Gate No. 2 of Eco Park to Eiffel Tower were marked out— the regular route via the herbal garden and the short route via the Japanese forest. All the ploggers were given participation certificates.
At the end, a cash prize of Rs6000 was given to the team that collected the highest amount of waste.
The pair that stood first collected 8.85 kg of waste. This was an elderly couple. A composting bucket and composting material was given to the top team and two other teams that performed well.
Regular joggers, young students, and kindergarden girl took part in the event.
Four other cash prizes were given to next four teams who collected 7.9, 7.7, 7.1 and 6.8 kg waste, respectively.
All were encouraged to take pictures in the selfie zone with their partners and inspire their friends through the social media to organise such events at their localities.
Five senior members of conservancy team, who works all round the year to maintain cleanliness, were given certificates of appreciation, a gift and cash prize of Rs 501.
Several honorary partners such as Y-East, Ad-My-Bin, Green Earth, Greenathon, Café Ekante, Café Ajante, New Town Business Club, PrakritiTirtha, Hidco and NKDA came together to organise the pairs-plogging event.