The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will distribute 2.5 lakh cloth bags in all the wards as part of efforts to discourage use of banned polythene bags. This was stated by municipal officials in the third and final phase of meeting held with stakeholders to make a detail work plan of the campaign against polythene use on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by members from petrol pump association, jewellers association, hotel Association, Doon Vyapar Mandal, representatives from private banks and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said that the idea is to prepare citizens mentally before imposing heavy penalties for using banned polythene and plastic.
Municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said, “We have organised meeting with almost all stakeholders for this campaign. Several associations and unions have assured us that they will be supporting this campaign by providing us with cloth bags. For the distribution of cloth bags in the MCD area we require about 2 to 2.5 lakhs cloth bags. Cloth bags are an important aspect of our campaign as you cannot ask citizens to stop using polythene without providing them a proper alternative. Few people have already given us commitments and few others will be speaking with their heads, after which they will tell us.”
When asked what will be the next step to be taken by the MCD he said, “We have received verbal assurance from hotel association that they will find an alternative to providing food to their customers instead of using plastic bowls, spoons and other items. Similarly, petrol association has also assured us that will be displaying messages at their petrol stations to spread this message among the citizens.”
He added, “From Wednesday onward ten more e-rickshaws will be operating in all wards, through which a message will be broadcast in order to raise public awareness about the type of plastics and polythene that are banned. This will continue for a month. During this time period from September 11 to 20 our teams will be collecting polythene bags and plastic items from every ward and cloth bags will be distributed. With that we will also ask citizens to take a pledge that they will not use plastic or polythene in future. If even after all this people fail to adhere to the law then we will have to impose heavy penalties.”
Deputy municipal commissioner Rohitash Sharma said that according to the centre’s guidelines polythene carry bags above 51 micron are allowed, but Uttarakhand High Court has banned them.
During the meeting, Ashish Mittal from district petrol association suggested that MCD should also try to contact the oil companies such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. He said that the association will also approach the companies but MCD should also send its representatives.
It is pertinent to mention here that several businessmen and small merchants are worried about their already piled up stock of polythene and plastic items. They are strictly prohibited from selling those items and the manufacturer is not ready to take them back. The merchants have asked MCD administration to make such a work plan so that they don’t suffer losses.
