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