Dehradun: A 50 km long human chain was formed in Dehradun to create awareness among the people about the ill effects of single-use plastic. More than one lakh people participated in the program on Tuesday. The program organized by the city municipal corporation also saw participation from the state police department.
The police department also participated in the event
The human chain was formed not only by students from schools and colleges and various social bodies, but it also saw the participation of officers from the state police department. DGP Anil Raturi, IG Pushpak Jyoti, DG (law &Ordr) Ashok Kumar, IG Sanjay Gunjyal were the prominent names from the police department who were part of the human chain.
Volunteers stood next to each other with the message of "Green Doon-Clean Doon-Plastic free Doon".
CM took to streets to spread the message
The program was flagged off by the CM from the Dehradun-Mianwala road at 9:30 in the morning. The CM along with Dehradun Mayor Sunil Gama reached clock tower after inspecting the entire chain through the city roads.
The CM appealed to the people to make their city plastic-free. He said that this is the first time such a large scale event is organized against the menace of plastic and that he is hopeful that this event will convey the message against the use of plastic to the common people of the state.
The chain was spread from Mianwala road to Rajpur Road, Chakrata Road, Clock Tower, Delhi-Saharanpur road, ISBT and other major arterial roads of the city. he event saw active participation from Government and Non-Government bodies, social groups, school and college students as well as common citizens of the city.
DG Uttarakhand Police Anil Raturi along with his fellow officers and several students and citizens joined the chain near the state secretariat at EC road.
DG appeals to people
DG Raturi said that plastic today has become a huge problem for the environment and it is the duty of every citizen of the state to come forward to help tackle this problem.
Women participating in the event stressed the need for the government to take effective steps for branded food items, plastic packed materials. With single-use plastic items, there is a number of other plastic items in the market that are adding to the menace, they rued.
What is single-use plastic?
The plastic of 40 microns and less is called single-use plastic. This refers to products made of plastic which are used just once and then discarded. For example, the plastic in which you get your daily groceries from the local vendor is single-use plastic. The mineral water bottle from market is single-use plastic. There are many other items in our daily life which are single-use plastic and which we throw away after using once. This is where we don’t realize that this plastic will never go out of our system.
Made at a very low expense this plastic contains a lot of harmful chemicals, which have many adverse effects on the health of both humans and the environment. On top of this, the expense of disposing of this sort of plastic is very high. When this plastic is dumped in the ground for disposal, it disintegrates into many smaller particles. This releases the harmful chemicals in the soil which adversely affects the production quality of the soil.
The chemicals mixed in the soil when reaches the human body through food and water have a very adverse effect on human health. A study reveals that an average human consumes approximately 70 thousand microplastics every year. The Government of India has already directed all state Governments to shut down units dealing in the manufacturing of single-use plastic.
Also read: Single-use Plastic: Government throws a challenge to startups for alternative
