In a first of its kind of initiative, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), is set to declare the Sector-23 market in Gorai a polythene-free zone by January 2021.

For this, the civic body has already deputed its staff in the market to keep a constant vigil.

The market has nearly 130 shops and more than 50 street vendors, who produce 45kg of plastic waste and polythene every day, said the MCG officials.

“We all know that plastic is harmful to us and our family but why we still use it. If we continue to use it for our own convenience, then it can be difficult for the next generation to breathe. We should stop using plastic from today itself,” said Dheeraj Kumar, Joint Commissioner, Swachh Bharat Mission, MCG.

“It is very important to have citizens’ participation in it. The city residents should consider it as their moral responsibility and consider Gurugram city as their home and contribute to making it clean. They must stop using single-use plastic and polyethene. Keep wet, dry and household waste in your house separately,” Kumar said.

For this initiative, the MCG has distributed more than 9,000 cloth bags in the market, which were prepared at recently opened cloth bag bank.

The corporation officials said footfall of the visitors at the market is high as it is located just near the Delhi-Gurugram border. The market has restaurants, eateries, jewellers, electronic, clothing, daily need shops, among others.

“We would set an example by making this market the first polythene-free market in Gurugram. Most of the shopkeepers in the market have stopped using polythene and soon it will become the first polyethene-free market,” said Kuldeep Singh, Cleanliness Brand Ambassador of MCG.