Puri, August 17: The students of English and Odia departments of Samanta Chandra Sekhara(SCS) Autonomous College in Puri extended their support to the plastic-free Odisha campaign launched by Orissa POST and Dharitri.
More than one hundred students of these departments along with their faculty members pledged to boycott use of plastic and polythene bags inside the college premises here August 16. They also launched an awareness campaign against use of plastic and polythene bags, and urged the students of other departments to involve themselves in the plastic-free campaign.
Welcoming the ban on plastic imposed by the state government, Dillip Swain, a professor of Department of Odia said, random use of plastic and polythene bags has been destroying our environment day by day. Hundreds of animals are dying after eating foods in the polythene bags, which is a shameful incident.
On the other hand, ban on use of plastic would promote the uses of handmade bags, which would benefit the common people, Swain added.
Similarly, Mary Mohanty, an assistant professor of the English department said, awareness should be created at a personal level. Everyone should be concerned about the use of plastic which would lead a successful plastic-free campaign in the state. She said she personally like using polythene bags when she goes to market to buy goods.
“We had pledged to make the department plastic-free. An awareness campaign will be driven among other students in this regard. Campaign would be continued to make our college premises plastic and polythene free,” said Jyotimayee Panda, a second year student of English department.