Giving the word ‘hartal’ a positive twist, the district administration and the panchayat called for a plastic ‘hartal’ on December 8. The day will mark the district-level inauguration of the Haritha Keralam mission.
The hartal call is a continuation of the campaign against plastic carry bags. The drive to collect cleaned plastic carry bags and other plastic waste from households has been under way since December 1, with the cooperation of government and private schools.
Under the initiative, plastic waste from households is brought to collection points in schools to be sent for recycling.
An official press release here on Saturday, on the decision to hold the Haritha Keralam district-level inauguration with various environment protection programmes, said District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali made the call to observe the plastic hartal.
People should resolve not to use plastic carry bags that day, he said, adding that every Wednesday after December 8 would be declared plastic collection day. Local bodies here would prepare projects for sending collected plastic waste to recycling centres, he said.
District panchayat president K.V. Sumesh said cleaning and water conservation activities would be launched in over 1,000 local body wards and divisions as part of the mission inauguration.
Health Minister K.K. Shylaja would inaugurate the district Haritha Kerala Mission by officially flagging off the commencement of projects to clean and renovate the Chirakkal Chira, an old pond in possession of the erstwhile Chirakkal royal family. The press release said all local bodies would declare themselves “plastic disposables-free” by December 8. Many local bodies had already made such a declaration, it said, quoting the Collector.
Kannur Corporation Mayor E.P. Latha said spots in the town used for dumping plastic waste would be converted into gardens.
She added that steps would be taken to ban plastic carry bags
in the Corporation.
