(TAN): Vagamon, a scenic hill station in Kerala has installed “green checkposts” to screen tourists for plastics or any other non-biodegradable materials, said media reports.
The initiative has been taken under the state-run Haritha Keralam (Green Kerala) Mission, launched nearly four years ago by the state government that envisages a clean and green state through waste management, organic farming and conservation of water resources with the support of the people.
Vagamon, a British era tea plantation town in highrange Idukki district in central Kerala, is known for its lush greenery, misty valleys and splendid meadows. The place had long been disturbed by plastic and other non-degradable waste dumped by the visitors. The recent step has been taken to reclaim its beauty and protect its serene ecosystem, officials said.
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Reports said there are five “green checkposts”, one at each of the five entry points to Vagamon. These are manned round the clock by volunteers, whose job is to make sure that no plastic items go beyond the check posts. A total of 32 women and 10 men are currently deployed at the checkpoints for this purpose.
The “green counters”, attached to the check posts, offer tourists eco-friendly articles such as cloth bags. They can deposit plastic bottles and other materials at the “bottle booths”, set up at various points, officials said.
Two material collection facilities will segregate waste collected at these booths and the state-run ‘Clean Kerala’ company has been reportedly entrusted with removal of the waste at particular intervals.
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“It is part of our efforts to make tourism destinations in the state clean and plastic-free. Visitors used to dump plastic and other harmful materials on the way sides and in the beautiful valleys of the place. We hope that the present effort will surely make a difference,” Haritha Kerala Mission Executive Vice Chairperson T.N. Seema was quoted as saying by the media.
