Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

AMBIKAPUR: You can now walk in with a pile of used plastic and be treated for free lunch.

The little town of Ambikapur, in Chattisgarh, some 300 km east of state capital Raipur, has come up with a unique innovation to make people cheerfully join the movement to bring to life Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to cure India of plastic menace.

The concept, to be launched on October 2 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, is as simple as it comes — a ‘Garbage Café’.

A new restaurant being given the final touches just beside the busy Ambikapur bus stand by the local administration will provide hygienic fare with a menu as diverse as it can be. The aim is to encourage people to make Ambikapur plastic-free forever. People, who pick up plastic via shopping, can now cart them to a Solid and Liquid Resource Management Centre (SLRM), 150 metres away from the restaurant and pick up tokens worth Rs 40 to Rs 60 for every 500 gram of plastic donated. The tokens are ‘valid’ for a month.

The coloured tokens— one for breakfast, another for the meal (lunch or dinner) — can be presented at the restaurant to avail the meal.

Ambikapur district magistrate Saransh Mittar said the value of token for breakfast is `40 and for meal `60.

A meal — according to the menu — consists of four chapatis, one plate rice, two vegetables, dal, papad and salad. Other food items listed at the restaurant can be paid for using two or three tokens at the counter. Breakfast menu would comprise south Indian, Chinese and a wide variety of other dishes.

Mittar said, at least two tables will always remain reserved for those visiting with plastics disposal tokens. The location of the restaurant was chosen to generate awareness against plastic use, he said.