Dear editor,
Through your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the issue that there is no polythene ban in Katra. Every day thousands of pilgrims visit Katra, the Base Camp of Mata Vaishno Devi. One can find heaps of garbage and polythene lying on the road sides which gives a very bad impression to pilgrims and tourists coming here.
It was discovered that at grocery stores and with vegetable vendors, plastic bags are still being offered for free and most of them have not switched to reusable cloth or synthetic shopping bags.
The State Government had passed a law prohibiting use of plastic bags almost nine years back. Those found infringing this, face strict action under the Environment Protection Act and can even end up in prison. But this law remained confined to papers only and nothing on ground level was done.
Moreover, it is sheer ignorance on the part of the people that they do not use paper or jute bags. Awareness needs to be created about the ill-effects of using polythene bags. It is the duty of the government to create awareness about the effects of the use of polythene bags.
D. P Singh (Raju);
Jammu