The significance of the tricolour does not end with the occasion on which it is unfurled. And nothing could disgrace the nation more than its national flag ending up in a dustbin, especially a day after the country celebrated its 76th Independence Day.
With this message, housing societies and residents’ associations in the city have taken it upon themselves to collect the flag from each house.
Ashok Gupta, vice president of the Marine Drive Citizens’ Association, said those who don’t wish to fly the flag after August 17 can hand over it to the volunteers.
“A volunteer from every society would pick up the flags at your doorstep to ensure that they are safely kept. Our building is a collection centre in our neighbourhood,” Gupta said.
In the last one month, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has supplied more than 41 lakh national flags to Mumbaikars as part of the Centre’s Har Ghar Tiranga campaign.
Rahul Dev Samant from Lalbaug said more than 100 residents in his building have come forward to collect the national flags not just from houses but also from the streets.
“After Independence Day we can see flags lying on the streets. This year, we don’t want such thing to happen; therefore, we have started collection of flags which could be used on Republic Day,” Samant said.
Dhaval Shah, Andheri resident and founder member of the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, said they have supplied more than 200 flags to 20 buildings in their area, and have now appointed a private agency to collect as many as of them.
“We have informed the citizens in our neighbourhood that in every building there will be a deposit box in the lobby where they can drop their flags. We are keeping a collection window open till next weekend and after that we will hand them over to an agency for their safe and respectful disposal,” Shah said.
Manish Bhartiya, chief project coordinator of NGO My Green Society, which is carrying out door-to-door pick-up of national flags, said that more than 150 societies in Mumbai and Thane have registered with them.
“Our volunteers will collect the flags and dispose of them as per the National Flag Code. This is a voluntary service which is free of cost, and we have circulated our contact details through social media and on WhatsApp,” Bhartiya said.
Meanwhile, BMC officials said even though they have not formed any task force to collect the flags, they are encouraging citizens to keep the tricolour with them.
“We are urging citizens to preserve the flag as a token of the 75th year of independence. The flags that we distributed are of good quality and could be fluttered on any national occasion,” an official said.