Single-use plastic waste piling up on hill slopes of Dhauladhar mountain ranges in Kangra, Chamba; NGOs demand ban
Dharamsala, September 1
Despite the fact that some small local organisations are making an effort to bring down plastic waste littering on slopes of higher reaches of Dhauladhar mountain ranges in Kangra and Chamba district, the problem was getting worse.
Environmentalists have called on the government to ban disposable plastic water bottles on hill treks in the state to tackle the problem of piling of plastic waste. “We are trying hard to bring down plastic waste littered on hills. However, the way plastic waste was gathering on the hill slopes, it is getting beyond our capacity,” said Arvind from Dhauladhar Cleaners, an NGO.
He added that the enormity of the problem can be seen on Manimahesh yatra trek in Chamba district. The yatra, in which about two lakh pilgrims visit the Manimahesh peak, is yet to start. Still, the entire trek is already dotted with heaps of plastic waste, most of which is disposable plastic bottles. “We are going to carry out a cleaning campaign along the Manimahesh trek with the help of the district administration. In the campaign, our volunteers would bring down plastic trash that is dumped there,” he said.
Arvind said if the government bans carrying of disposable plastic bottles to Manimahesh trek, it would solve half of the problem.
Vikas, who runs an NGO in Upper Dharamsala, said that every year their volunteers carry out a campaign to bring down trash from the Triund summit, which is visited by thousands of tourists. It was unfortunate that heaps of waste were piling up near the Triund summit. We are able to clean that area, but are helpless beyond that, he added.
Many environmentalists and NGOs working in the field of environment conservation have been expressing concern at the plastic waste piling up on the hill slopes in the state. Though single-use plastic has been banned in Himachal, it was not being implemented strictly.
