Leave no waste behind

GARBAGE BAGS DISTRIBUTED TO NATHULA-TSOMGO CABBIES
GANGTOK, 30 May: The Tourism Department, officials of the 3rd Mile Checkpost alongwith members of Live to Love organisation today distributed garbage bags to drivers of the vehicles taking tourists to Nathula and Tsomgo. An initiative of Live to Love, the bags were handed over by the Tourism and Forest Minister Bhim Dhungel.
In his welcome speech, the Joint Secretary [Tourism Department] Rinzing Chewang stated that as compared to other states of the country, Sikkim was still far more cleaner with regard to garbage and plastics, but this needs to be carried much further. The garbage bags are being distributed to the drivers who ply tourists to Nathula and Tsomgo Lake so that the tourists do not throw any garbage either on their way up or during their journey, he added.
The State government had taken out a Notification banning the use of plastic way back in 2006 and even banned use of plastic carry bags and since the drivers are the ones to interact with tourists firsthand they play an important role in making Sikkim plastic free, he said and added that most of the tourists throw garbage from the vehicle’s window during the journey, especially water bottles.
Mentioning that Sikkim has already been awarded the Campaign Clean India state award, he urged the drivers to carry these garbage bags in their vehicles. He further added that if the need arises then the Motor Vehicle Department and the police will be asked to monitor if the drivers are carrying garbage bags in their vehicles in the future.
He also congratulated the Live to Love organisation for taking such an initiative as this was the need of the hour and such an initiative was needed to keep Sikkim clean and green.
Speaking to NOW! the Tourism Minister, Bhim Dhungel informed that a model was being worked upon wherein a certain token amount will be taken from the tourists going to Nathula or Tsomgo on the items they carry and this amount will be refunded if all the waste is brought back in the carry bags, failing which the token amount will be used towards keeping the area clean.
The work will be carried out by JFMC and EDC members while the monitoring work will be done by the department field officers [ROs, Inspectors], who will be asked to do regular monitoring.
In order to draw tourists the department conducted some tourist festivals recently and the impact can be seen in the number of tourists coming to the State this season, stated the Minister. With this there has also been an increase in drivers from outside the state and these drivers do not know the rules and regulations of the State, so there is a need to inform them on these issues, he added. This he said will be done through various non governmental organisations.
Speaking on the issue of bad road conditions, the Minister said that the GREF and the BRO have been asked by the state government to ensure better road conditions, further adding that the BRO has assured an improvement in road conditions in the next one to two years.