Siliguri, 25th March: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India had earlier announced that from July 1st, 2022, the country will ban single-use plastics, claiming that they have “low utility and high littering potential.” Owing to this notification, the Siliguri Municipal Corporation launched several programs and campaigns to make Siliguri a plastic-free city. However, as the monitoring of the same decreased, the use of plastic once again increased.
Nonetheless, the Municipal Corporation has once again geared up to make Siliguri plastic-free by closing the main source of plastic in the city. Today, during an awareness campaign, Mayor Goutam Deb maintained that strict monitoring will be kept on the means by which plastic enters the city. The Mayor was accompanied by the Corporation's Deputy Mayor Ranjan Sarkar, Sanitation and Garbage Department's Mayor In Councial Manik Dey, Mayor In Councial Sikta Dey Basu Ray, Borough Commite No. 04 Chairman Jayanta Saha and Ward No. 27 Councilor Prashant Chakraborty.
An awareness campaign was conducted on Saturday in the DI Fund Market and various markets of Mahabirsthan. Along with an appeal to not use plastic, the officials stuck stickers with the same message at various shops.
In this regard, the Mayor said such an initiative had also been taken earlier. However, the use of single-use plastics still prevailed in the city. Given this, the board decided to campaign in Mahabirsthan as it is one of the city's oldest marketplaces, and a lot of materials are available here. He added that the businesspersons were made aware of the notification. And if anyone who continues to use single-use plastics even, will be fined. Apart from this, close attention will also be given to detecting the primary source of plastic entering the city.
Meanwhile, while appreciating the Mayor and SMC's initiative, the businesspeople urged the board to help them find alternatives to single-use plastics. They said that such awareness campaigns in the markets or shops would not make as much of a difference as shutting down the primary source of plastic would.
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