Apart from getting the feel of clean and serene beauty of Himalayas, tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh during the ongoing tourist season would also get lessons for keeping surroundings clean as part of Swachh Bharat campaign.

The unique campaign has been designed by the Sirmaur district administration and under it, the tourists visiting the hill state would be provided be bio-degradable carry bags at entry points.

“Tourists would be charged Rs 5 per bag which are prepared and designed by women self-groups of the district,” Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner, Lalit Jain told The Statesman.

Jain said it has been observed that the tourists threw waste material at open places wherever they visit for the want of effective garbage handling mechanisms as carry bags and dustbins.

“As the waste material can’t be collected and dumped at one place by tourists as they don’t have bags for the purpose and in addition, plastic bags are banned in the HP. This leads to tourists dumping the waste material as plastic rappers, water bottles etc at open spaces,” he said. The move is aimed at curbing such trend and also to add in already initiated efforts for conservation of environment, he said.

The carry bags have been prepared and designed by women self help groups of the district under District Rural Development Authority.

The administration’s initiative would also help the women getting additional source of income who belong to economical backward regions of the district.

The administration along with Mahila Mandals, volunteers from various organisations and NGOs had also carried out a cleanliness drive and collected plastic waster around 2000 kgs from various parts of the district.

It is worthwhile to mention here that around 2 crore tourists including over 4 lakh foreigners visit HP every year and the huge rush which is increasing each year, is resulting in all hill stations getting covered with plastic waste.

Major tourist destinations of the state as Manali, Shimla, Dharamshala, Rohtang Pass and Dalhousie are clogged with plastic waste in tourist season with plastic bottles, rappers of various packaged items scattered all round.

During the peak tourist season, a hill station, which generally produces 10 tonnes of garbage every day, generates around 50 tonnes of waste material, mostly plastic.

Now, the trekking routes and adjoining peaks too are covered with plastic waste and though the government along with various NGOs tries to clean the mess but still there seems to be no end to this menace.

The scourge has now reached to the rivers like Beas, Satluj, Ravi and their tributaries.

“There needs to be segregation of plastic waste while disposing-off garbage and the government should setup treatment plants for safe disposal of such waste,” said Gaurav Bhardwaj, a member of Kullu based NGO which is making efforts to rid hill stations of the district from plastic waste.