Activist sees use for maligned flexes for flood victims

With the high court keeping the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on its toes to make the city free of illegal flexes and banners, a resident has come forward to make the best use of this to help the flood-affected people and animals in Kodagu and Kerala.

Anil Shetty, a resident from JP Nagar, has appealed to the BBMP to give him all the flexes so that he can use them to build temporary shelters for animals.

"The flexes that were removed across the city can be put to multiple uses. As flexes are made of waterproof material, we can use them to build temporary structures for animals in the flood-affected zones. If we double-fold them and stitch it, we can even make beds for animals," said Shetty, who is also the president of the Nav Bharath Democratic Party.

They can also be used to provide temporary shelters to store groceries and other relief material, said Shetty. Instead of burning the material, which will only cause harm to the environment, this is a better way to put it to use, he said.

While BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad and special commissioner S Venkatesh were not available for comment, Mayor R Sampath Raj said the BBMP will look into the appeal and decide if it is feasible. "We shall look into the appeal. If it indeed helps in providing some relief to the flood-affected areas, we will go ahead with it," the mayor.

Raj also said that the BBMP has not decided on how to dispose of flexes in the city. "We were thinking of sending these materials to cement factories as we have learnt that they burn it and they will not have any toxic impact on the environment. However, we have not come to a conclusion yet," he said.

Close to 80,000 illegal flexes and banners were removed by the first week of August and the high court has ordered the BBMP to remove the remaining hoardings by the end of this month.