A meeting has been arranged with the Community Development Society (CDS) officials that will finalise details of the Kudumbasree Mission’s role in the anti-plastic drive, City Corporation Welfare Standing Committee chairperson Palayam Rajan has said.
“There are already five Kudumbasree units in the district engaged in tailoring and stitching activities. We plan to increase this number to 12. The meeting will decide on the need for an implementing agency to specifically look into this angle of producing alternatives,” said Mr. Rajan.
As part of the plastic-free drive, Mayor K. Chandrika along with councillors visited the Palayam Market again on Tuesday, this time focusing on talking to shop owners. During their previous visit on Sunday, the authorities concentrated on talking to shoppers.
“We will be doing the same on Wednesday but we will rather not publicise beforehand where the squads will go, for much of the time it is the large wholesale stores that possess the bulk of plastic bags. A surprise inspection should yield better results,” said Mr. Rajan.
Environmental groups such as Thanal have welcomed the moves initiated by the civic body, but expressed concerns that despite the earnestness with which the project was launched, it was likely to die an early death. “Around two years ago, the Corporation had begun something similar. They even targeted wayside eateries and removed even polythene sheets,” Shibu K. Nair of Thanal said.
Mr. Shibu said that the existing framework of local self government’s bylaws could be used to create strict anti-plastic regime. He cited the example of the Mumbai Municipality and their imposition of fines for offences such as littering of public places.
