Valley announced plastic bag-free zone

KATHMANDU, APR 15: Marking the Nepali New Year, the government on Tuesday declared Kathmandu valley a polythene bag-free zone.

The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology made the declaration in the presence of stakeholders at Exhibition Road.

On the occasion, various government representatives, and other stakeholders expressed their commitments not to use polythene bags which are thinner than 40 microns.

Addressing the programme, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development and Federal Affairs Prakash Man Singh appealed all for active participation to implement the decision. “Today is the Nepali New Year, and we have declared this Valley a polythene bag free zone. This is a good beginning, we want active support from people,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, Purna Bhakta Tandukar, chief of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, expressed commitment to strictly implement the initiative. “I request all the city dwellers to support campaign.

We will also take this campaign to municipalities outside the Valley as well,” he said. Before decision was declared, hundreds of youths, including government officials, lawmakers and police personnel, took out an awareness rally around the Ratna Park area.

Speaking at the programme, Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa said the implementation part would be a quite difficult task. “But if every citizen starts avoiding plastic bags from their house from today onwards, the campaign will be successful.” National Planning Commission Vice-chairman Govinda Raj Pokhrel and CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Poudel also stressed on effective implementation of the decision.