Eco-friendly pens with seeds inside come as souvenir to walkers
The organisers of the Ekamra Walks, the guided heritage trails in the city, played the role of a green crusader with distribution of eco-friendly pens on Sunday among the visitors.
The use-and-throw pens made of waste newspapers have seeds inside so that when a user will throw them out, the pens, while decomposing will also turn into trees as the seeds would germinate.
After a brief break following the severe cyclonic storm Fani the 124th Ekamra Walkssaw more than 40 participants, who took the pledge to plant more trees as the cyclone has almost wiped out more than 50 percent trees from the city skyline.
Pancham P Taank, an engineer with SMS Group, came with his family and took part in the walk. He said that after coming to the Old Town walk and the Khandagiri and Udayagiri walk he brought the family so that they know the rich heritage of the city.
“The idea of the distribution of ecofriendly pens to participants of the heritage walk is wonderful and I hope we all should also care for the green heritage of the city as the Temple City was known for its green cover and trees which was partially lost after Fani,’’ he added.
Pancham’s wife Sameekshya and twin sons Tanay and Tanmay, both in Class IV at Vikas School near Khandagiri were also delighted to take part in the walk and were happy receiving the ecofriendly pens.
Chief Manager of Bank of Baroda Mithilesh Kumar Singh, who came with his wife Abha and daughter Lavanya were also happy to know the heritage treasure and the medicinal plant garden Ekamra Van. “We are happy to get the eco-friendly pen and hope that all citizens of the city would contribute in reviving the lost green cover,’’ they said. The family has recently shifted from steel city Jamshedpur to Bhubaneswar.
The eco-friendly pens with seed inside is developed by a city based startup Likhan by two students of Centurion University. They are students of the School of Vocational Education and Training of the university.
Anju Taparia Kunte, an engineer with Siemens in Mumbai and her Charterd Accountant hubby Subash Kunte were delightede to be part of the heritage walk.
“My wife has travelled 35 countries and participated in almost all types of walks there. However, today’s experience was unique. In fact she was brought up here in the city,’’ Subash added. Anju, a blogger also wishes to put her experience in her blog.