Devotees visiting West Bengal's Gangasagar get cloth bags to curb use of single-use plastic

Kolkata: In order to curb single-use plastic in the Gangasagar Mela held in West Bengal a self-help group is distributing cotton bags to devotees. This initiative is a step towards preventing ocean pollution and supporting PM's campaign of completely eliminating single-use plastic from the country. 

Ocean scientist believes that about 1.15-2.41 million tons of plastic are found in India's river and sea every year, which takes 48,000 to 100,000 trucks to clean them which is a very severe situation.

The voluntary organizations assigned for the work are seen offering cloth bags to the pilgrims so that they avoid using plastic bags. Till now the volunteers have distributed almost 4,000 cloth bags and target to distribute a total of 25,000 cloth bags till the end of the 10-day long fare. The cloths bag are being manufactured by a self-help group, who are involved in distributing the environment-friendly bags to pilgrims. 

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Devotees in Ganagasagar Mela praised the initiative of the West Bengal government and said that this is a very good step taken by them to protect the environment and ocean from getting polluted. 

According to the West Bengal government, nearly fifty lakh devotees will visit Gangasagar to take holy bath in 2020. 

Ganga Sagar Mela which is held in Sagardwip, West Bengal, is the second most popular Mela after Kumbh Mela in India. It witnesses large number of people pouring in from different cities. The festival has a cultural and spiritual significance in Hinduism where pilgrims dip themselves in the holy waters of Ganga.