Plastic banned in Amrabad Tiger Reserve from July 1

For the convenience of visitors, alternate drinking water facilities would be provided at different locations inside the ATR limits, said Elusing Meru, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, in a order issued on Thursday.

Hyderabad: A total ban on single use plastic, multi player plastic and pet bottles of one litre and below will be imposed in Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) from July 1 this year.

For the convenience of visitors, alternate drinking water facilities would be provided at different locations inside the ATR limits, said Elusing Meru, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, in a order issued on Thursday.

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Visitors carrying food items in plastic wraps would be advised to dispose the wraps in designated places, garbage bins and not to litter the tiger reserve areas, the order said.

Visitors should carry water in steel or glass bottles and should not dump plastic waste in the forest area.

ATR officials have been facing a challenging task in clearing the plastic waste dumped by visitors, especially those attending the annual Saleshwaram jathara, which lasts for three days.

During the festivities held last month, the department had deployed over 100 volunteers from local Chenchus tribes for clearing waste, especially plastic dumped in the forests and monitoring vehicular and pilgrim traffic.

Last year about 14,000 kgs of plastic waste was collected during the three-day jathara, Amrabad FDO Rohit Gopidi had said. Further, cloth bags were distributed for the devotees to carry water bottles and others and to avoid use of plastic bags.

Similarly, voluntary organisations offering free food to the devotees were appealed to serve food in plantain leaves or traditional leaf plates sourced from local Chencus.

Though, a baling unit was established at Mannanur, ATR officials have been trying to create awareness among visitors to slowly do away with the practice of using plastic in forest limits. Before imposing the plastic ban effectively from July 1, awareness programmes and campaigns would be conducted for a month on the adverse impact of using plastic particularly in forests, he added.