Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology Eshwar Khandre on February 5 officially declared temple town Dharmasthala as “plastic free.” Much effort had gone into it behind the scenes by the Dharmasthala Gram Panchayat as well as Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. The fight against plastic is no small battle in the rural areas of Karnataka, which are fast losing their “rural” character.
Plastic menace is no longer confined to urban areas and has traversed to the nooks and corners of the country. The undivided Dakshina Kannada district, that hosts several prominent pilgrim and tourist attractions, struggles with this problem. With rural local bodies lacking funds as well as expertise to handle waste, they are often piled up on the flanks of roads, highways and abandoned places.
