Kutch village bring about a change

RAJKOT: A small idea can have a big impact. Mankuva village in Kutch has proved exactly that. The village with a population of 17,500 has decided on its own not to use polythene bags. From shopkeepers to vegetable vendors and the rest of the population has imposed a self-declared ban on use of plastic bags.
Instead, women of the village use cloth bags and retailers use paper bags.Since last three-four months, villagers have not used a single plastic bag. This movement has also inspired the residents of the nearby villagers. The villagers, on their own, formed an organization Vishwa Mangal Gau Raksha Samiti. They collected Rs 5,000 and made cloth bags and carry-bags and distributed among the residents, requesting them not to use plastic bags.
Samiti president Mohabatsinh Sodha (60) said, "We started on small scale on our own. Our first priority was to save the cows, as cows choke on them after accidently eating them. Plastic bags are also not good for the environment."
"We took the initiative and collected funds from the residents and made cloth bags that were distributed among the masses with an appeal not to use plastic bags anymore," he added.
Another member of the samiti Lalji Patel (24) said, "The cloth bags carried the appeal to not use plastic bags and the idea clicked. Most of the women are religiously inclined and when they came to know that the plastic bags thrown away by them cause harm to cows, they stopped using those bags."
"Earlier, we never used to carry a cloth bag for shopping. We use to bring the stuff in plastic bags. But when we came to know about the harm it causes to cows, we and the neibhbourhood decided to cultivate the habit of carrying a cloth bag with us," a resident of the village Shanta Gharsani said."The idea clicked and even the traders` association of the village stopped using plastic bags. Later, the sweet shop association and vegetable vendors also joined in," Sodha said.
Now for the last four months, our village has not used a single plastic bag. Even the salesmen who used to come to the village to sell plastic bags have stopped coming. A cloth bag manufacturer in Anjar, who used to supply printed bags at a price of Rs 10 per piece, declared a steep discount of almost 40 per cent.
Nearby villages like Ravapar, Dayapar and Kera are also following Mankuva. Recently in Kera, a function was organized to create awareness among the masses. An NRI from London Mavji Bhudiya gave donation to the committee and instructed them to distribute at least 500 such bags in each and every village function.
Sodha said now they are taking donations in the form of printed cloth bags only. They have even got sponsors for the same whose name gets printed on the bag. Where ever we go, we carry these bags with us and distribute them for free. This way we are creating awareness to save the environment and help save the cows.