M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 6: A total of 15,000 cloth bags were distributed by police in their respective police stations in Palamu today as part of ‘saying no to single-use plastic.’
The anti-single use plastic drive was launched by Palamu SP Chandan Kumar Sinha. He walked down the streets with around 100 cops triggering an impression that some big raid was in the offing but when he stopped at the roadside shop and inquired about the replacement of the single-use plastic, the sense of relief became evident on people inside and around the shop.
The SP said, “When we were walking down the streets many curious eyes were watching us as to which big shop or business establishment we would stop and storm into. We enjoyed the curiosity and bewilderment of the onlookers.”
Asked if single-use plastic would be out of man’s daily need or business, the top cop was candid enough when he said, “Plastic is now an in-thing. It is integrated into daily life and entwined with man’s hourly needs. Multifold use plastic is difficult to discard but nevertheless, efforts should be made to replace it as far as possible.”
The SP agreed that vegetable vendors have started selling veggies in cloth bags but they are also prevailing upon the customers.
He said it was his idea to launch a two-fold drive, first to tell people to shed the habit of using single-use plastic and second, to switch over to the cloth bag or any alternative to single-use plastic.
The police headquarters in Ranchi has not involved itself in this drive so far and hence, what Daltonganj saw today was the innovative act of the Palamu police led by its SP.
“Today we tried to convince people that police not always pursue penal action but it also readies people to abide by what the government asks for like discard use of plastic about which he said plastic is one such which can be made of any micron as there is no other material which has such a flexibility of thickness,” the SP said.
