Saturday, 18 MAY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Rudraprayag district administration in association with a private organisation has installed two vending machines in Gaurikund and the Kedarnath shrine premises under the campaign of making Kedarnath Dham plastic free. The sub divisional magistrate of Ukhimath, Anil Shukla informed that the pilgrims can deposit their QR coded plastic water bottle in this machine and get a refund of Rs 10. The consumer will get this refund digitally through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. According to him, the district administration started this initiative as the proper plastic disposal will improve the cleanliness condition on the Kedarnath Dham Yatra route without causing any damage to the environment. Shukla informed that a trial machine was installed on the route last year. After it turned out to be successful, the administration installed two machines this time. This administration took this step based on the theme ‘small step, big change’ as the disposable plastic bottles brought by thousands of pilgrims on a daily basis can lead to huge plastic waste in the Char Dham. This initiative will help to curb garbage disposal issues and littering in Kedarnath during Char Dham Yatra to a great extent, he added.
