After water conservation, these J'khand villages aim to go plastic-free

After earning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appreciation for their effort towards water conservation and management, the residents of Ara and Keram - two villages in Jharkhand - are aiming to go plastic-free.

Ranchi (Jharkhand): Ara and Keram did not stop at earning praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their exemplary efforts in water conservation and management, the two remote Ranchi villages in Ormanjhi block have now taken up the task of becoming single-use plastic free.

Located 25 km away from Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, the Gram Panchayat of Ara and Keram, have been carrying out a massive drive to rid the village of single-use plastic bags.

The Panchayat members have been organising awareness campaigns for the cause and have even been imposing fines on those violating the no-plastic norm."We did not draw inspiration from anywhere.

Every Thursday, the gram Panchayat holds a meeting and discusses ways to improve the quality of life in the village. It was during one such meeting that we decided to make our village plastic-free. It is very harmful for the environment and the animals, " said Gopal Bedia, Village head.

"If someone happens to violate the rules by using plastic bags, we fine them Rs. 150 for the first such offence and Rs. 500 thereafter," added Bedia.The initiative taken by the Panchayat has recieved equal support from the residents of both the villages, who make sure that they carry cloth bags, ditching plastic ones, evertime they go for grocery shopping or marketing.

"When we go to the market we carry a cloth bag along with us. Although vendors offer plastic bags we refuse to accept them, " said Rajamani Devi, a resident of the village.

Babu Ram Gop, another resident of the village, while appreciating the Panchayat's initiative highlighted the ill-effects of plastic waste to ETV Bharat.

"You won't find plastic in our village. We realised that wood, paper and iron gets degraded after a while, but plastic doesn't degrade. If the plastic happens to get in contact with our agricultural fields, it blocks water from penetrating earth's surface, " said Gop.

The decision to eliminate plastic waste was taken by Ara and Keram much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all village heads across the country last year to ensure that there villages were free of single-use plastic, and by the looks of it the two Jharkhand villages seem to have accomplished what they had set out to achieve.