Plastic bottles banned in Nilgiris, 70 water kiosks opened

On the first day of the ban, the district administration went easy and did not carry out any raids. However, officials hinted that special teams would be constituted to search shops and impose fines on violators in the coming days toensure compliance.

The ban comes in the wake of the High Court order directing the district administration to curb plastic from degrading the pristine environmentof the hill district.

Meanwhile, the district administration has set up as many as 70 water kiosks across the district to provide drinking water to tourists visiting the hills. District Collector Innocent Divya inaugurated an automated water dispensing machine at Government BotanicalGarden on Sunday.

Tourists can fetch a litre of water by dropping Rs five coin in the water dispenser. The Collector also urged tourists visiting The Nilgiris not to bring plastic bottles and food items wrapped in plastic covers. They can instead use recyclable bottles to carry water.

Those heading to the hills will be checked at check posts in Burliar, Kunjappanai, Kakkanallah, Nadugani, Thalur, Pattavayal and Geddhai. Shops, hotels and restaurants located along the highways from these check posts have also been instructed not to sell water bottles, soft drinks and food items wrapped in plastic.  

Collector Innocent Divya has warned that action would be taken against those found using any of the bannedplastic items. Though the district administration had planned to enforce the ban from August 15, it was postponed for 15 days following heavy floods triggering landslides and tree falls. Over the last one month, the officials were involved in creating awareness by holding meetings with merchant associations and restaurant owners on the plastic ban.