- Massive drive launched; 50 tonnes plastic material seized
REASI: As part of ongoing SBM activities, officials teams today seized 50 tonnes of banned plastic material on the first day of massive drive launched by district administration Reasi to make holy Katra town polythene-free zone. The sized material was handed over to pollution control board for safe disposal. The administration move came after observing unabated use of banned polythene bags and other material by shopkeepers and business establishments in the town. Notably these bags were sometimes thrown on roads and in drains or any other open places.
It is pertinent to add that Katra town- the base camp for highly revered Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has been included in the ten iconic cities of India and is being developed on modern lines. To this end, the district administration is taking all out measures to improve sanitation, cleanliness and keep check on practices which create pollution.
Rallies and meetings on regular basis are also being organised in the holy town by the administration to create awareness among the people. The District Magistrate has formed a committee headed by Sub-divisional Magistrate Neelam Khajuria with assistance of Tehsildar Mohit Raina and other officers to execute the drive to end the use of banned material.
Instructions have been passed to officers of municipality, revenue, pollution control board and police to conduct joint operations to seize the polythene bags and other banned material wherever found. District Magistrate has appealed to public in general to adopt ecologically safe bags made of jute and corn starch which are easily bio degradable. Apart from curbing the use of non-bio degradable material, rural development department has fast paced the works to make the Katra block open defecation free. Pertinently Reasi block has already been made ODF and for that the district administration has also been awarded.