say no to La Tomatina – Tomato Festival in Bangalore:sign petition

[suchira mehta]

sign petition at http://chn.ge/nalatomatina

Akshey Kalra

September 14, 2011 at 3:46 AM

There are more reasons why such a festival should not be organised in India.It is a wastage of food and ignorance at its top. Some of us are protesting against this event and it would be great if we get more support from people. Here is a link to the petition asking the CM to ban such events and take action if somebody tries this tomato wasting event in India. http://chn.ge/nalatomatina

Published: Saturday, Sep 10, 2011, 13:26 IST By Shilpa C B | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

The famous La Tomatina festival held in Spain during the last week of August is a tourist attraction. Event organisers are planning to replicate it in the city and in a couple of other places as well. Thousands of tomatoes might just be thrown about just for fun, but not if the chief minister intervenes and bans this wasteful activity, say a few Bangaloreans who are signing an online petition. The petition, No La Tomatina, hopes to get 5,000 signatures in the next five days, well in time for the chief minister to stop the event scheduled for September 18. “Wasting precious food must not become a part of our culture in India while there are millions of Indians who go hungry every day. We must stop the La Tomatina festivals in Bangalore and Mysore. They’ve been banned in Delhi due to public protest and we can ban it Karnataka,” the petition said. It also said: “Let’s call on our new chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, to stand up for justice, safety and conservation and to ban this event and all related events. Sign this petition.” Activists, students, and professionals are slamming the wastage of food in a country where 25% of the world’s hungry and poor live and around 43% of children aged below five suffer from malnutrition, according to the 2011 World Food Programme Report in India. “Do not copy bad things blindly from the world. Be practical. Feel for those who are foodless. Donate the tomatoes and money to them. You will get more joy than throwing tomatoes,” said a petitioner. l Turn to p4