After getting positive response from the anti-polythene drive, the district administration has launched the second phase of the campaign against plastic bags. The second phase aims at countering use of plastic bags in rural areas of the district. Launching the drive from Jatal village, Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said in order to completely eradicate polythene bags, it was important to reach out to the rural population also. The second phase was started with the distribution of cloth bags amongst villagers, who pledged not to use polythene carry bags. Later, the administration went door-to-door to provide one cloth bag to each household in the village. The DC said in the first phase of the campaign, all 31 wards of the city were covered. A number of social and voluntary organisations held meetings and seminars in the wards to generate a public opinion against polythene bags. As many as 1.5 lakh cloth bags were distributed amongst the locals to overcome the dominance of polythene carry bags. There is already a complete ban on the use of plastic bags in the district and the shopkeepers have been doing their bit in encouraging the customers to give up the use of plastic bags. The DC said for the complete success of the campaign, it was important that the general public came forward and endorsed the drive. He said the campaign would be taken to all blocks of the district. In the third phase, all important villages would be covered while in the fourth phase, the remaining villages would also be brought under the campaign.