Haridwar admn to act tough over polythene usage

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, June 21

The district administration will launch a drive to check the use of polythene bags and plastic around Har-ki-Pauri and Ganga ghats in Haridwar as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is getting stern over the issue.

The drive has been undertaken occasionally in the past from the mela zone of Har-ki-Pauri and adjacent Ganga ghats to Bhoopatwala, Kankhal, Upper Bazar and Moti Bazaar. Now, the campaign will be taken up on a regular basis in other parts of the city, including Ranipur, soon, said an official.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vipra Trivedi said traders had been warned about the NGT directives but majority of them were still using polythene material. “Residents should ensure that they don’t pollute the Ganga and local ecology by using polythene bags or plastic material. Now, an anti-polythene drive will be organised regularly. The NGT is stern over the menace in Haridwar. The district administration and the Municipal Corporation have to ensure that the NGT’s directives are adhered to,” Trivedi added.

City Magistrate Jai Bharat Singh said if anyone opposed the drive of the administration and the civic body, he or she would have to face the music. Legal cases would be filed against them, he added.

Traders’ representative Tej Prakash Sahu has assured full cooperation to the district administration and the Municipal Corporation. Urging all traders to cooperate, he said it was high time that everyone recognised the ill-effects of plastic.

Meanwhile, another trader union representative, Sunil Sethi, has sought more time from the district administration citing bulk buying of plastic bags in advance by most of the traders.