MCC launches “Har Gadi Bin, Har Gadi Bag” plan
Chandigarh, June 25:- The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh has launched “Har Gadi Bin, Har Gadi Bag” plan to sensitise citizens towards littering and ban on single use plastic.
While sharing this new initiative, Ms. Anindita Mitra, IAS, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh said that If every citizen keeps a shopping bag in his/her car, plastic bags can be completely eliminated from market areas. She said If every car has a dustbin, and citizens put their thrash in the same, littering can be greatly reduced.
The Commissioner said that MCC and RLA have tied up with all the car dealers that both at the time of sale of new car, and at the time of servicing, the car dealer shall provide the customer with a dustbin and a shopping bag to try and inculcate these habits in citizens. She further said that RLA shall make it compulsory for citizens who come to renew their registrations, to install dustbins and keep cloth/jute shopping bags in the vehicles. This is an important step as Chandigarh has the highest vehicular density anywhere in the country at 878 registered vehicles per 1000 persons.
She further said that MCC has also started a selfie with shopping bag/selfie with bottle(to reduce the use of plastic disposable water bottles) in which citizens have been asked to tag the MCC social media handles. She said MCC has been taking several steps to curb the plastic menace.
The Commissioner said that recently, series of events were held with MWAs in which a cash prize of 1 lac has been announced for the first MWA which becomes totally plastic free. She said that progressive MWAs like sector 46 has started giving discounts to citizens who come with their own shopping bags.
She said that the MCC has also set up a cloth bag outlet, manned by a SHG in the Sabzi Mandi of Sector 26, to promote use of Cloth/Jute bags and discourage use of single use plastic.
She said dedicated joint task force of MCC and CPCC to check all places where hoarding of plastic is being done. In the past 6 months, 935 challans of littering and 721 challans of use of banned plastic have been issued.
She appealed to all citizens to shun the use of single use plastic and adopt sustainable practices like using their own water bottles and carrying their own shopping bags to the market.
