The second phase of meeting in order to take suggestions from people to make an effective work plan for stopping use of polythene and plastic was held at Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) on Friday. During the meeting Vipendra Chauhan, a volunteer distributed about 150 saplings of lemon grass and Tulsi.

During the meeting, the Congress party’s Dehradun Mahanagar head Lal Chand Sharma said, “The two basic things MCD needs to focus on are awareness camps and secondly categories of polythene that are banned should be clarified.

It is important for customers to become aware that using polythene carry bags is harmful to the environment as well as the food products that are being carried inside it.

Through MCD we can also write to the central government to first target the companies manufacturing polythene.” Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinay Goel said that as he is also a member of merchants association, efforts should made to encourage the citizens to buy a Rs five or Rs 10 carry bag made of cloth or paper instead of demanding carry bags made from polythene or plastic. He said it is essential for the citizens to support MCD in this campaign. Several councillors suggested that students should also be involved in the campaign.  In fact every councillor should conduct campaigns at schools on their level, so that people participation can be promoted.  One of the councillors during the meeting pointed out that the banners being used by the MCD also come in the category of the banned items.

In response to this, the municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said that these banners were being used only inside the MCD premises. Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ also expressed his views on the occasion.