Meghalaya CM banishes plastic from his office under 'Beat Plastic' drive
New Delhi, June 17: Admitting increasing plastic consumption is a rising threat to his state, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said he had personally quit using plastic as well as barring it from his office.
Asserting that it will take some time to address the plastic menace as people are use to using it, India's second-most youngest Chief Minister, who hails from one of the greenest and cleanest states, says he believes in leading by example and has adopted a top-down approach.
He also raised concern over lack of mechanism of collecting waste plastic from rural and remote areas.
"We can begin by simply saying no to the plastic bottles and carry aluminium or steel bottles," said Sangma, who was here to attend NITI Aayog's Governing Council meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.
He asserted that its very important to keep the momentum against plastic moving and not confining it to the Environment Day alone.
He also said that the state government is stressing upon recycling.
Asked if his state is suffering from plastic waste, Sangma said: "Absolutely".
"If you look at most of our towns or cities, you will see that a lot of streams are choked up because of the plastic which is there. It is a matter of extreme concern for us.
"In the rural areas there is no mechanism to actually check the use of low grade plastic, that's a big concern... we are realising the challenges and also taking steps to assure that the issues are take care off," he said.
Speaking of plastic waste alone, approximately 900,000 tonnes of PET -- used to make soft drink bottles, furniture, carpet, paneling, etc. -- was produced in India in 2015-16, as reported by the National Chemical Laboratory.
The issue was bought under light with the World Environment Day-2018 on June 5 hosted by India with theme "Beat plastic pollution".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Woman mauled to death by leopard near Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Nov 18: A 52-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard near here, officials said on Monday.
Kariamma had gone to cut grass at an agricultural field near her home at Kambalu, Gollarahatti, in Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru Rural district on Sunday evening when the incident happened, they said.
The field, where she was working, was adjacent to a forest which is frequented by leopards, and warnings were also issued to villagers in recent times to not venture into the vicinity. There were instances of leopard killing dogs and other strays, a senior forest officer said.
"The woman, who is into rearing cattle, went to the agricultural field to cut grass and was allegedly dragged by the leopard into the forest area where the big cat mauled her to death and consumed parts of her body from head to chest," he said.
When she did not return, her family members went searching for her and discovered her half-eaten body and reported it to the forest officials, he added.
A 30 member team of leopard task force, 30 staff and 10 officers of the forest department reached the site along with forensic experts to take samples of the hair, blood stains and footprints of the leopard in order to catch the big cat, the officer said.
"Twenty huge cages have also been installed in and around the area in an attempt to catch the leopard involved in the killing," he said.
