To push people to discard the use of plastic bags Municipal Corporation (NMC) is undertaking an awareness campaign. The campaign will be undertaken till October 27, Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to people to stop the use of single-use plastic bags. The civic body will be implementing the ban on single-use plastic starting with its Central office and extending then to Zonal offices, hospitals and in its schools. Maharashtra Government has already banned single-use plastic, still, she said that one needs to constantly push citizens for reaching the ultimate goal of the plastic-free city, Addressing a press conference on Monday, said Mayor Nanda Jichkar.
With the help of NGOs, NSS and school students to reach every household and make a fervent appeal on avoiding single-use plastic Rallies are planned in each ward. The plastic lying by the roadside would be collected to ensure cleanliness in the area during the rallies. All the public representatives would participate in the rallies and make an appeal to citizens for joining the plastic-free campaign. NMC has increased number of persons in nuisance detection squads (NDS) with the recruitment of 46 more besides previous 41 to enforce a plastic ban. They are not targeting individuals but also targeting units where single-use plastic bags are manufactured said, Civic officials.
Maximum manufacturing facilities are in Gandhibagh and Satranjipura Zone where raids were carried out in May to prevent its sale in the market. The officials informed against a seller in Laxmi Nagar Zone, One FIR was also registered. During 2013-15 besides seizure of the material a fine of Rs. 44,35,300 was collected from the use of plastic. For its effective disposal, the plastic collected would be handed to the third party. Now many units are engaged in recycling of plastic and making innovative items from them like school bags, thread etc. Fervent appeal to citizens to ensure that this Diwali is free of single-use plastic was made by a mayor.
