Celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, the District Administration Budgam through various departments today distributed 5000 cloth bags under ‘No Use of Plastic’ slogan under ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ programme across the district.In this regard various functions including sanitation, cleanliness, garbage collection drives, seminars and awareness programmes were organized by the District Administration to aware people about the hazardous effects by single use plastic on the environment across the district.The main function was held at DC Office under the supervision of ADC Budgam Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani where hundreds of cloth bags were distributed among employees and others.The function was jointly organized by Chief Education Office Budgam and Municipal Committee Budgam which was attended by ACR Zaffar Shawl, DEPO, Gulzar Ahmad while as scores of officials from Education, Municipal Committee Budgam and locals attended the programme.While addressing the gathering, ADC impressed upon taking a collective responsibility by all to avoid using plastic bags to save environment and ecology from the disaster caused to it by plastic. He said that plastic poses biggest threat to the earth and urged all to take pledge to stop using it and instead use alternate bags for safe environment. He instructed employees to use cloth or jute bags as an alternative to plastic bags for the safe environment.He also urged upon the participants to use separate dustbins for segregation of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste. He said while celebrating the Day of the father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhiji, and the best service to the nation at individual as well as collective level will be to stop using plastic and maintaining sanitation everywhere. At the outset employees and other participants pledged that they would take the “Swachhta Hi Seva” mission to its logical end and would contribute for safety and protection of the earth. Adding, ADC said that all 1.5 lakh households in Budgam will be provided with cloth bags as an alternative to use of plastic bags under the Swachhta Hi Seva” mission.Meanwhile, similar awareness programmes were organized at SDMs, BDOs and Municipal Committees level offices in collaboration with other departments, where cloth bags were distributed among households.