Plastic Ban move by Darjeeling Citizens

As the pipers of Darjeeling Police Band marched down the streets today, residents joined in to express solidarity with the no-plastic campaign.

Citizens walked hand-in-hand with schoolchildren, district and municipality officials and politicians to send a message that they were ready to follow the ban on plastic use and the prohibition was not being forced upon them. The placard, “We are not afraid of the ban, we are afraid only of plastics”, seemed to say it all.

“Let us not only talk about it, but get down to making Darjeeling clean and green. Let us take a vow to get rid of plastics from town,” said Rajesh Subarna, superintendent of police, Darjeeling. The plastic ban will come into effect from Thursday (March 8), said B.M. Limboo, vice-chairman, Darjeeling Municipality. According to the order, anyone found littering or using plastic bags would be fined Rs 100.

Led by the Darjeeling Police Band, the procession, which started from Chowrastha, wound down Nehru Road and Ladenla Road before reaching Chowkbazar, the business centre of the town. From there, the rallyists returned to Chowrastha, via H.D. Lama Road.

The plastic ban campaign, which has been taken up periodically in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, finally seems to have taken off for good as even politicians are in favour of the prohibition. The presence of Pranay Rai, the GNLF MLA from Darjeeling, was significant as earlier campaigns here had reportedly been derailed by political interference to an extent.

However, today, speeches delivered by Rai and Limboo sent the message that they have realised the hazard of the use of plastic. “Let us be united for our future and lend a hand for a better tomorrow,” said Rai.

Source: The Telegraph