HYDERABAD: Despite assurances from the organisers of 10 K Run, Sport 18, to keep the event environment-friendly, the health run was far from it. People's plaza, from where the run began, was a mess by the end of the event. About a 100 GHMC workers worked on the whole of Sunday to clean up the 10 kms track, according to social scientist WG Prasanna Kumar, AP Pollution Control Board.
In a statement issued to the AP Pollution Control Board and the Buddha Purnima Project Authority couple of days before the 10K Run, Sport 18 had assured that there would be sufficient number of dustbins in place for the event held on Sunday, as it was too late to withdraw the plastic bottles to be provided for the event.
It had also assured that from the following year, the Run would go greener and that plastic bottles would be avoided. On the other hand, it had assured that adequate dustbins would be provided this year to dump trash. But that was not the case. There were only about 100 dustbins in place of the promised 500 at the venue.
"One of the sponsors Oxygen, was providing mineral water bottles free of cost to everyone present at the venue. What was the need to distribute bottles to family members of the participants free of cost? Many had thrown half-empty bottles all around People's Plaza. People who are not participating also gather at the venue and these are ones who create a mess. They had even thrown bottles into the lake," said Mahender of Carbon Credit Race, one of the campaigners against the plastic used during the event.
About 30,000 people participated in the run and by the end of the day, the number of bottles strewn around were more than the number of participants. Not only bottles, but few private players also distributed T-shirts to the participants. There were 20 promotional stalls set up at People's Plaza for the purpose. Empty covers were also lying around the place.
Mahender says the campaigners including NGOs such as the Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL) had approached Sport 18 three weeks prior to the event. "They could have taken measures if they had planned it right," he said. The campaigners, Carbon Credit Race and about 800 college students had made arrangements for drinking water to the participants. They had arranged for the supply of 8000 litres of water in paper cups. however, they hope that their efforts would bring results at least next year during the 10 K Run.
Meanwhile, the APPCB and BPPA have decided to take action against the organisers if they do not comply with environmental-friendly measures. Sport 18 was not available to comment.
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