The initiative to prevent people from littering tourist locations in Udhagamandalam got off to a rocky start on Saturday. However, the teething troubles were rectified and the system began functioning again from Monday.

District Collector Innocent Divya had come up with the plan to prevent plastic waste from being dumped at the Ooty Lake and Boat House and the Government Botanical Garden by tourists. Since Saturday, tourists who brought plastic bags into the two places were charged ₹10 per individual piece of bag. The amount will be returned to them at the exit, when they show the bags that they carried inside.

To keep track of the number of plastic bags taken inside, special stickers were pasted on them.

Two women’s self-help groups had been roped in to collect money, paste the stickers and return the money at the exit gates. However, on Saturday, there were plenty of complaints from visitors, especially those visiting the Ooty Lake and Boat House.

Sixteen tourists who had to be returned more than ₹100 lost their cool when they could not find the SHG members at the exit. This resulted in heated exchanges between boathouse staff and the tourists.

On Monday, G. Vignesh Bharath, a tourist from Kanchipuram, said that he had not come across such a system anywhere in Tamil Nadu and said that he had initially thought that he was being charged for bringing in the plastic to the boat house. “I didn't know that the money would be refunded, and there were many people who were confused as to what was happening. Signboards clearly explaining the system would definitely help tourists,” he said.

Collection points

Another tourist, Vinitha G, said that there could be more collection points within the boathouse itself, as she had to keep hold of empty wrappers and bottles for a long time.

Ms. Innocent Divya said that the initial problems which were encountered on Saturday have been sorted out and that the members of the self-help groups have been told that they need to be available at all times.