Sirmaur among top 12 districts in race for award
Tribune News Service
Solan, September 8
Sirmaur district has found a place in the top 12 districts across the country for the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2020, under the “Innovation (General) — District” category for a slew of environmental protection works such as the introduction of polybricks to rid the district of plastic waste.
Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, RK Pruthi, said out of the 958 applications received from across the country, Sirmaur had found a berth among the top 12 districts by the screening committee of Government of India. It is the only district in Himachal to be selected in this category.
Since there is little scientific mechanism to dispose of plastic waste, the environment-friendly polybricks developed after compressing plastic waste into empty bottles has found varied use in constructing boundary and retaining walls, flower pots, benches, etc. in the district. Handy compressors were also developed to facilitate the process.
Pruthi said, “In an effort to rid the plastic waste, about 9 tonnes of plastic had been collected so far by running ‘Ek Din School Ke Naam’, ‘Ek Din Panchayat Ke Naam’ and ‘Markanda Cleanliness Campaign’ under the polythene-free Sirmaur campaign of the district administration.”
He said on September 9, a PowerPoint presentation would be made by him before the screening committee on the steps taken for polythene waste management in the district. He said, “If we are selected in the top three districts at the national level, it will be a matter of pride for Sirmaur and Himachal. Right now, we are in the second stage.”
The other 11 districts of the country are Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh, Changlang of Arunachal Pradesh, Surajpur of Chhattisgarh, Ahmedabad of Gujarat, Anuppur of Madhya Pradesh, Solapur of Maharashtra, East Imphal of Manipur, Shivaganga of Tamil Nadu, Narayanpet of Telangana, Banda and Chandauli of Uttar Pradesh.
