Chennai, Oct 14 : The Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board has appealed to the people not to use any plastic or polythene material during the festive season of Ayudha Puja and Deepavali. This is in the wake of large-scale use of polythene bags when people purchase clothes, sweets, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other materials from the street vendors, vegetable markets, stores, and supermarkets where polythene bags are largely used. Supriya Sahu, Tamil Nadu Principal secretary, who holds the full additional charge of Chairman, TN Pollution control board in a statement on Wednesday said that single usage plastic covers should be discouraged. She said the plastic carry bags irrespective of their thickness, non-woven carry bags, plastic-coated paper bags and cups, plastic tumblers, thermocol cups, plastic tea cups, water packets/ pouches, plastic straw, the plastic flags should be shunned and instead appealed to people to bring eco-friendly bags for shopping. The environment principal secretary said the state government was taking extra efforts to reduce pollution, and added that the Greater Chennai Corporation, the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forest, Government of Tamil Nadu, and TNPCB were taking serious efforts on the matter. Supriya Sahu added that the government is strictly enforcing measures on the ban of single-use plastic items in Tamil Nadu. In the statement, Supriya Sahu also said, "Please be aware that there is a huge threat of plastic pollution around us that is choking our planet earth, causing devastating impact on our ecosystem, including marine life and adverse effect on the health of our children." After the DMK government assumed office, the state government has been undertaking several programmes on awareness against plastic pollution and is mainly focusing on a people-centric approach to curb pollution. /IANS