GHMC to celebrate green festivals from April

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has prepared plans to celebrate green festivals (‘Haritha Utsavalu’) from April second week, when there are auspicious muhurats with more marriages taking places, with the aim of making the city plastic-free. It is during marriages at function halls that plastic glasses, cups and other disposable products are used.

1. Aim is to make city plastic-free
2. ‘Haritha Utsavalu’ are to be organised on a large scale, also with the aim of restoring its name as a city of gardens.
3. Already ‘Haritha Haram’ programme with plantation of three crore saplings has been taken up in Hyderabad. Eighty per cent of the saplings have survived

The festivals are to be organised on a large scale, also with the aim of restoring the city’s name as a place of gardens. Already the Haritha Haram programme with plantation of three crore saplings has been taken up in Hyderabad. Eighty per cent of these saplings have survived, claim the GHMC officials.

The GHMC wants to initiate steps from now onwards for the use of steel glasses in place of plastic. Mayor Bonthu Rammohan has already held discussions twice or thrice with manufactures of plastic items not to sell covers with less than 50 micron thickness. As a result, the use of such bags has been reduced drastically in the city.

The civic body is treating the thousands of plastic items like glasses, plates, cups left behind at many function halls after mass events like marriages as a major problem. Hence it has decided to educate the organisers of function halls against the use of plastic items with the aim of protecting the environment by conducting programmes by the GHMC Deputy commissioners.

GHMC Commissioner Janardhan Reddy told The Hans India that efforts are on to persuade the function halls, which charge lakhs as rent, to voluntarily use steel items like glasses and plates, in place of those made of plastic. To encourage the function/banquet halls to ban plastic items and to opt for the change the corporation would present special awards to them. The GHMC chief stated that already many function halls were implementing the plastic ban.

They would also be considered for the awards. Reddy said already there were stipulations that compost pits should be compulsorily provided in hotels and function halls which generate large quantities of garbage. He appealed to the people to participate in the green festivals in large numbers, while recalling that Hyderabad has been declared as the most suitable city for stay in surveys conducted by several international/national organisations. He said the green festivals would pave the way for continuing this recognition and to make Hyderabad more environment-friendly.