SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY
shashwat@herald-goa.com
AGASAIM: Worried by the rising plastic pollution manners in the country, Shaikh Asik Ikbal (alias Rana) from Kanchan Nagar village, Purba Midnapore, West Bengal is on an all-India bicycle tour to create awareness on harmful impact of plastic usage.
A poor rickshaw puller, his aim is to cover almost all States from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh to persuade people from stopping usage of plastic products and polythene bags.
“Sometime back, I heard our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi on TV appealing his countrymen to stop using plastic products. After this, I decided go on a nationwide tour on my bicycle and spread his message on harmful impact of plastic pollution,” Ikbal said.
Ikbal started from West Bengal then went to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and has now entered Goa. He has been on road for two months now. His entire tour duration is six months.
“Wherever I’m halting for a break, I’m telling people that instead of littering the roads with plastic, throw them in a dustbin so that the waste is accumulated at one place and it is easy for sanitary staff to collect them. If the plastic products are thrown on the streets, it will cause a lot of problems like choking of the drains, that will block the water outlets and cause flooding. This will damage the local environment,” he said.
In Tamil Nadu, he visited number of places including Chennai, Rameshwaram, Madurai and many other prominent places and spread the message of harms caused by plastic pollution.
When asked how is he funding his journey since he hails from a very humble background, Ikbal said that there are numerous people good Samaritans who are supporting his cause.
“There’s social organisation back home named Tarun Sangha Club which is supporting my endeavour, it sends me Rs 2,000 to 3,000 per month. A lot of people have helped me during my tour. The restaurant owners when they hear my message feed me for free, the commuters stop and listen to me and even donate some money to me for meeting my expenses. Therefore, I’m not facing any problems. But anybody who wants to support my family can transfer money from their UPI app on my number 8972 606560. And anybody who wants to contact me personally can call on 8597331360,” the humble crusader said.
From Goa he will proceed to Maharashtra and visit Mumbai. He will then proceed to Gujarat followed by Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir where he will visit Ladakh.
