The Trinamul-led civic board of Mirik municipality ahead of the summer tourist season has announced a complete ban on use of plastic carry bags across the civic area, effective from Monday.

“Our main objective is to keep the town and its adjacent areas clean and at the same time we want to enforce a rule to maintain the entire civic area as a plastic waste-free zone. We have already appealed to the residents here to abide by the instructions and stay away from using plastic carry bags,” L.B. Rai, the chairman of the civic body said.

“Any seller of plastic carry bags will be fined Rs 500. A buyer will have to pay Rs 50 for violating the rule,” an official source said.

The tiny hilly civic body — Mirik has nine wards with a population of around 20,000 across the civic area — is located about 50km from Siliguri. This is the only civic board in Darjeeling district where Trinamul managed to form the board in 2017. It will complete five years by May 31 this year.

It is also one of the popular tourist destinations surrounded by tea gardens, hilly streams and the famed Sumendu Lake. According to the civic body, around 50 hotels are in the civic area. Apart from hotels, hundreds of homestay facilities also come up adjacent to the town. Tourists reach the hill town throughout the year for a day visit or a transit stay to and fro their visit to Darjeeling.

The civic authority has also decided to engage at least 50 volunteers in the civic area to carry out awareness against the use of plastic bags. The civic board will also appeal to the representatives of NGOs and social workers to participate in the drive.

“We are also working to develop the civic body’s ‘solid waste management’ with the assistance of SUDA (State Urban Development Agency). The officials of SUDA and the municipal affairs department have recently visited the town to discuss the project. We have identified 3 acres of plot below the Alley Ground that will be used for the SWM project,” Rai said.