Smart City team strategise plastic ban implementation in Kohima

Dimapur, Aug. 17 (EMN): The ban on plastic in Nagaland will be implemented within a month’s time on September 17, and keeping this in purview, Kohima Smart City (KSC) had a consultative meeting with the Kohima Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) to discuss strategies for the ban to be successful.

In a press release issued by the joint CEO of KSC on Saturday, it was informed that KSC in collaboration with the Green Team Kohima, had a meeting with the KCCI under the ‘100 days Smart City Special Initiative Campaign on Sanitation’ and in “pursuance to the government order on ban of plastic.’

Kovi Meyase, the administrator of KMC as well as the CEO of KSCDL, stated that the ban on plastic will not be successful without the involvement of stakeholders as well as ‘the inputs and efforts of the KCCI.’

It was decided that the District Task Force (DTF) headed by the deputy commissioner of Kohima had to be consulted first as the DTF has been “entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and vigilance,” it informed.

According to the statement, some key ‘suggestions and practical action plans’ were submitted to the deputy commissioner.

Some of the suggestions were: mass awareness in the urban areas and wards through announcements on vehicles with pictorial banners as a countdown activity; broadcast voice ads/short clips about the ban in English, Nagamese and local dialects through AIR and DDK; set modalities for companies and organisations who want to bring alternative products in place of plastic; set up of a laboratory for testing alternative products and cross-check the authenticity of any certification; specify items to be banned, as categories of materials to be banned in the order also covers an array of items used in food packaging, and is a requisite under the FSSAI guidelines.