Taj city bans polythene

Agra, June 19 (IANS) The Agra administration has banned polythene in a bid to clean up the Yamuna river.

Divisional Commissioner Pradeep Bhatnagar Wednesday instructed municipal authorities to immediately ban the use of polythene below 40 microns.

The Agra Municipal Corporation will stop people from littering polythene and throwing religious material into the Yamuna from the three bridges in the city, an official said.

Wastepaper bins will be placed at the bathing ghats for people to deposit polythene bags.

A similar exercise was undertaken in 2010 by then municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey.

For almost six months, Agra became polythene free. But the mess returned once Pandey was transferred.