By IANS,
Agra : Braving a chilly Sunday morning, thousands of Agra citizens sporting white caps and holding banners formed a 20 km long human chain to sensitise people about the environmental hazards posed by polythene bags.
More than 125 citizens groups, political parties, government departments and health workers lined up along the MG Road and the Mall road, behind the Agra Fort close to the Taj Mahal.
“Polythene bags and used plastic bottles have choked all the drains and sewer lines in the city and form the biggest chunk of municipal waste. If people could be sensitised about the hazards posed by use of polythene bags, it will help improve the living conditions,” Agra Municipal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey told IANS.
Agra’s 65 km-long network of open drains emptying into the Yamuna river at 19 points remain choked for most part of the year due to the polythene bags.
“If this passion for the city as demonstrated by the human chain continues and is consolidated, then Agra would soon be a city to watch,” said Wake Up Agra president Shishir Bhagat.
The corporation is now planning to use polythene bags collected from shopkeepers in road-making.
“Plastic waste and polythene when added to bitumen ensures longer life of roads and saves on cost too,” said Sanjay Chaturvedi, president of NGO SHARE.
The Municipal Corporation of Agra had last month announced that the use of polythene bags would be banned within the city from Jan 1, 2011.