The need for all citizens to get involved in the movement to make Madurai clean and green was highlighted by several speakers at a rally organised by the Madurai chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry, Young Indians and Rotary International District 3000 to create awareness against use of plastic here on Saturday.
The rally was part of a campaign to make Madurai clean and also make people to say ‘no’ to use of plastic ahead of the temple city becoming plastic-free by January 1. The other components are encouraging use of cloth and paper bags, inspiring traders to do away with plastic bags and use of bins around Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple to collect plastic bags and bottles carried by visitors.
The Collector, K. Veera Raghava Rao, while calling for the involvement of all residents to make the district plastic-free, stressed that schools would be the ideal place to enforce the strict use of dust bin to dispose of garbage. The district also had a green ambassador force of over five lakh children in schools and over one lakh students in colleges.
Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Nanduri said that the civic body had undertaken various green initiatives in the run-up to banning the use of plastic from January 1. In the first phase, awareness against the use of plastic materials had been created and in the next phase shops and commercial establishments would stop use of plastic bags. All visitors to the city would be encouraged to use cloth or paper bags only.
The Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, D. P. Yadav, the monitoring officer for Madurai district, released a poster and cloth bags on the occasion. He also flagged off a plastic awareness rally of school students from near the Meenakshi Temple.
Earlier, Poornima Venkatesh of Young Indians explained the objectives of the campaign.
