Focus on plastic in Kolkata Municipal Corporation dengue drive

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is set to launch an anti-plastic campaign across the city. Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday instructed civic officials to start the drive along with an anti-dengue campaign. According to Hakim, the drive against dengue could prove futile if banned plastic materials are allowed to choke city's drainage system, leading to accumulation of rain water.
Hakim also said he would take up the matter with city police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal and ask him to take action against offenders.
A KMC drainage department official conceded that the city's gully-pits were still heavily choked by banned plastic materials. "We can offer citizens quick relief from waterlogging if the plastic menace is taken care of," said a KMC official. According to a KMC market department official, "We need to revive the drive and make use of the penal provision to scare away the traders dealing in banned plastic items."