Give plastic, take gold: A unique idea that makes J&K village plastic-free

To save the environment from plastic waste, Sadiwara village Panchayat in Hiller Shahabad block of Anantnag district has come up with unique campaign idea called ‘Give Plastic and Take Gold’. In this mission the panchayat head will be offering a gold coin for collecting plastic waste for saving the environment. Under the scheme, if someone gives plastic waste of 20 quintals, then the Panchayat will give him a gold coin.

A lawyer by profession and Sarpanch of the village Sadiwara, Farooq Ahmad Ganai has become an inspiration for everyone in the Kashmir Valley. After the start of the campaign, the whole village was declared plastic free within 15 days.
The campaign has gained a lot of popularity and has been appreciated by all and even been adopted by other panchayats too.

Advocate Farooq Ahmad Ganai said, “I started a slogan in my village to give polythene in return for a reward. I took the initiative to clean the rivers and streams. Now everyone in the village helped us to clear the sites.”

The village which had heaps of plastic thrown on the roads and streets is now completely clean and all the plastic that is collected is handed over to the Panchayat members. This village is setting an example for all other villages and the government is also trying to replicate the same idea in every village of the Union territory.

Sadiwara Youth Club’s president Shakeel Wani said, “Locals of all age groups had shown interest when the Panchayat exhorted them to collect plastic waste from garbage dumps, rivers and roads.”

Assistant Commissioner Development Anantnag, Riyaz Ahmad said,” Under Swach Bharat Abhiyan 2 we have to make our village’s polythene and garbage-free and in this regard, Sadiwara Panchayat along with District administration have started this model this is not government scheme so that people gets motivated to clean their villages.”