Free villages of single-use plastic: PM to Sarpanchs

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all sarpanchs to ensure their villages were free of single-use plastic before Diwali. In a letter to sarpanchs on September 9, Modi asked them to create awareness in their villages on the issue.

“I want to make an appeal to you to generate awareness and inform every person in your village on the risks and hazards of single-use plastic during the ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ period from September 11 to October 2. You can also motivate them for taking a pledge on October 2 to make your village free of plastic waste, to collect all plastic waste from their surroundings at an identified place in the village and to ensure its safe disposal with the support of the local administration. This way, we will be able to make our villages, towns, schools and surroundings free from plastic waste by this Diwali,” the PM said in his letter.

He appealed to sarpanchs to commit themselves to the cause of building a “plastic-free, pollution- free India just like we built an open defecation-free India.” The PM has stressed that plastic pollution has a highly detrimental impact on humans, other living beings and the environment. “In my Independence Day speech, I urged all of you to discard the use of single-use plastic such as plastic bags,” the letter said.