DTNWF campaigners to urge CM to ban plastic bags

CHENNAI: The ban plastic bags campaign by members of the Daughters of Mary  Immaculate - Tamil Nadu Women Federation (DTNWF) is to present  1,30,000  signatures to the CM on  Wednesday. It was a brigade of lavender colour-clad women, who took to the road in a rally to present to the CM their demand to enforce a law to prevent the production and use of plastic carry bags in the state.Over 5,000 women from  DTNWF,  shouting slogans to ban plastic bags,  participated in the  rally from the Rajarathnam Stadium to the Secretariat. The rally was flagged off by MP Nirmal of Exnora  International. He said, “This coming together of women power and  Exnora can really wipe out plastic bags from the state. We need to take concerted efforts to take forward this campaign as a movement across the state. We will work together to make this a reality.”The campaigners called upon the  public to make use of paper bags,  cloth bags and jute bags.Sr. Mourin  Media coordinator of DMI said, “We call upon the women and others to carry a  cloth bag with them when they go for shopping. This way, we can stop the circulation of plastic bags in public spaces. Over 1,56,000  women from DMI have pledged to stop using plastic bags. We hope to take this campaign forward.”The other demand to the government was to bring in measures to promote the use of alternative bags such as cloth, jute and paper bags, thereby protecting the environment and preventing pollution.