By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 24 May: In order to keep the Char Dham Yatra route free from plastic waste, three plastic inspection and awareness vans were dispatched by the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board on Wednesday. Principal Secretary, Forest and Environment, and Chairman of Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, RK Sudhanshu flagged off the three specially designed vehicles.
The vehicles operating from the base stations of Rishikesh, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag will be responsible for monitoring of plastic waste and enforcing various regulations along the entire Char Dham route. The vehicles will also sensitize pilgrims and citizens regarding the banned single use plastic items.
The responsibility of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib has been given to the Rudraprayag team, while the responsibility of Gangotri, Yamunotri and Gomukh routes will be handled by the Uttarkashi team. The Rishikesh team will handle the responsibility of Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar and Tehri region.
At the flagging off of the three vans at Gaura Devi Bhawan, IT Park, Chief Guest RK Sudhanshu said that plastic waste has become a big challenge on the Char Dham Yatra route. Last year, 45 lakh pilgrims came on the Char Dham Yatra. More pilgrims are expected this year. In such a situation, efforts at every level are needed to deal with the increasing waste. He expressed hope that the three vans would be successful in creating awareness among pilgrims and locals about plastic waste in their respective areas, as well as monitoring and reporting the ground situation.
He said that the NGT has fined many states for violating environmental norms. In view of the efforts of the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board and the State Government, this fine has not been imposed on Uttarakhand. He expressed the need to work on innovation and research in the times to come.
Sushanta Pattnaik, Member Secretary, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, said the vans would mainly focus on three things. These include the challenges of enforcement, monitoring and awareness. He said that the vans on the Char Dham Yatra Route would engage in monitoring of waste management arrangements of the Urban Local Bodies, Panchayats, Forest Department and Mandir Samiti.
Patnaik added that the vans will identify the dumpsites on the Char Dham Route and examine the dumped waste along with the source of the accumulated waste. The programme will be completed in two phases. The first phase will run from the second fortnight of May to the end of July and the second phase from September to the end of November. With these efforts, the Pollution Control Board will move beyond its regulatory role and work towards the model of public participation.
SK Subudhi, Director of the State Environment Conservation and Climate Change Directorate, said that to deal with the challenge of single-use plastic, it is necessary that a continuous public awareness campaign be conducted. All possible efforts need to be made to free the Char Dham Yatra Route from single use plastic.
Apart from the driver, each van will have one member, each, from the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, PRD and the Board’s Knowledge Partner, SDC Foundation. Mobile teams will make people aware about single use plastic and Mission LiFE through banners, posters, stickers, standees as well as recorded audio messages.
Chandan Singh Rawat, Dr Ankur Kansal, Pradeep Joshi, Sompal Singh, Dr Rajendra Kathait, Amit Pokhriyal, Dr Rajkumar Chaturvedi, Anurag Negi, Anoop Nautiyal, Prerna Raturi and all officers and employees of the Board were present at the event.
