17 Municipal Corporations will be declared as plastic-free by next October, says CS

Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand has said that steps are being taken to declare 17 Municipal Corporations as plastic-free corporations by next October and the drive is also under way in all government offices.

During a video-conference with District Collectors on the implementation of various programmes on Thursday, Mr. Vijayanand said awareness should be created about the harm posed by single-use plastic items, and called upon the manufacturers to pay due attention to curb the menace. 

He said the government has launched the Swarnandhra P-4 Foundation program for eradicating poverty and eliminating economic inequalities in the society, and that the Collectors should strive to make it a success.

Also, he stressed the need for proper implementation of the population policy, the draft of which was released a few days ago, given the consideration of population by the government as an asset. 

Adarsh Gram Yojana

Mr. Vijayanand said that 1,027 villages have been selected under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, of which 765 have already been declared as model villages as per the Village Development Plans.

He directed the Collectors to work towards declaring the remaining 262 villages as model villages at the earliest. The Central government would provide ₹20 lakh as a gap-filling grant to each selected village for the creation of infrastructure.

Drawing attention to the Rising and Accelerating MSME Performance program, the Chief Secretary said it was a World Bank-supported Centrally Sponsored Scheme and Collectors should make it a success.