M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Dec 22: Members of the Eco-Development Committee (EDC) Lodh have enforced ‘stickers’ to contain and control the abandoning of the plastic items especially the water bottles at the site of the Lodh Falls.
Deputy Director (South division) of the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) Mukesh Kumar told lagatar24.com today that EDC Lodh is pasting stickers on every water bottle that a tourist carries with him up to the site of the Lodh Falls. The sticker per bottle of water is worth Rs.10. The amount paid by the tourists will be kept as caution money.
Mukesh Kumar explained the rule by saying that stickers will be placed on each bottle carried by a tourist, and he or she will be required to pay the caution money at the counter. On his or her return trip, the same tourist must submit the sticker-applied water bottles to the EDC, either filled or empty, and collect the submitted amount.
According to the official, this sticker rule has minimised the abandonment of the water bottles around the Lodh Falls. No one is throwing around any empty water bottles at Lodh Falls as then that tourist will lose his/her money.
The empty water bottles collected by the EDC Lodh are then disposed of in an eco-friendly manner. On average, 100 empty water bottles are thus saved from being thrown by the tourists at the Lodh Falls site a day.
Chief Wildlife Warden of Jharkhand has issued an order imposing a fine of Rs.25,000 or three years of imprisonment if found guilty of littering the sanctuary with plastic and other nondegradable items, said Mukesh Kumar.
