VV Puram joins plastic 'ban'wagon

A number of citizens and government officials took part in a walkathon at VV Puram on Sunday, in an attempt to create awareness on plastic ban and effective waste segregation. 

The event was organised by the BBMP with the support of citizens’ groups and some government officials. It saw people from different walks of life taking part.

Shashi Shastry, a member of the Lalbagh West Volunteers’ Group, who took part in the event said that she was hopeful that VV Puram (ward no 143) would see positive results after Sunday’s event. 

Members of Rotary Inner Wheel Club Bangalore South distributed cloth bags to traders, pourakarmikas and citizens as volunteers walked through Sajjan Rao Circle, Pobbathi Hospital, Food Street (Market Road) and Arya Samaj Junction.

Holding placards with messages on plastic ban such as ‘If you litter, future will be bitter’ and ‘I choose to refuse plastic,’ the volunteers made citizens aware of the state government’s ban on plastic and mandatory waste segregation rules. 

Volunteers Smitha Srinath and Rajani Jain said that there were more than 100 traders on VV Puram’s famous Food Street alone. 

A few days ago, they met the traders in the ward to make them aware of the ill-effects of using plastic. 

They said, “Most of them are ready to adopt alternative to plastic, but have sought time. We intend to hold more such programmes in future and this is just the beginning.”

Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, chairperson of NGO Adamya Chetana who presided over the programme, said that though the use of plastic could not be eradicated completely, all citizens should try to minimise it. She later distributed colour-coded bins to citizens. 

Citizen activists, along with BBMP, will start a drive against the use of plastic from Monday, wherein they will keep tabs on traders and seize plastic if they are found using it. They said four stalls would come up at Sajjan Rao Circle near VB Bakery, where people and traders could buy alternatives such as cloth bags and jute bags.