Plastic ban only on paper as bags still freely available

Nagpur: Seven months after the state government prohibited use of plastic bags, it is freely available across the city.
The state government had banned all plastic products, including polythene carry bags, from June 23, 2018, and asked the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) along with nine other government offices to strictly enforce the rule in the city.

In an apparent lackadaisical attitude towards the government instructions, the MPCB and NMC completely failed to regulate the use of plastic not only in the city but also near its own office premises.

The ban on plastic in Nagpur is limited to manufacture of polythene carry bags that are openly available in city’s markets. TOI visited many market areas and found that the banned products are easily available. Except retail chains like Big Bazaar, Purushottam Super Bazaar and some others, TOI came across many roadside vendors and some grocery shops or those selling vegetables, fruit and other products using plastic bags. The big retail chains offer paper and cloth bags.

The bags are openly available in shops in Gandhibagh, Mahal and other areas in the city. The actions against shops keeping banned products is very dismal in both Gandhibagh and Satranjipura zones jurisdictions.

TOI tried to speak to a few vendors selling flowers, fruits in banned bags and also those buying these products but they refused to speak. Spotting this reporter, some shopkeepers even hid the banned product.

In the initial months, the NMC’s nuisance detection squad and zonal team of NMC’s health (sanitation) department had extensively carried out raids at local shops, including wholesale dealers of plastic products in Itwari, Mahal, Cotton Market and Dharampeth areas.

Between June 23 and February 7, the NMC’s nuisance detections squad and sanitary inspectors from all 10 zones checked 22,791 shops and issued challans to 614 shopkeepers for keeping the banned product. The NMC has also imposed a fine of Rs30,37,800 on them by seizing over 9,494kg of banned plastic products mostly carry bags, revealed data compiled by NMC’s health (sanitation) department.

The NMC’s drive seems to have lost its sheen as even carry bags below 50 microns are easily available in the market.

The state government has empowered 11 government departments like MPCB, district collectorate, police, forest department etc to implement the ban but only the NMC is initiating action due to which use of plastic continues unabated in the city.

Even NMC’s health (sanitation) department was not extending support to enforce the ban, said sources. Apart from four civic cops, the NMC was supposed to spare eight of its workforce in every zone. “But now, only four civic cops are active in every zone,” admitted a senior official from the NMC’s sanitation department.

According to the officer, the health (sanitation) department, assigned for the job, has many other responsibilities like sanitation, cleanliness etc. “It is very difficult without the support of citizens and other government agencies to implement the ban,” he said. Despite repeated attempts, MPCB officials were not available for comment.

Vidarbha Plastic Industries Association vice-president Harish Mantri claimed that plastic manufacturers in the district had completely stopped production of banned items. When asked about the large-scale presence and use of plastic carry bags, he said they must have been sourced from neighbouring states where the ban is not in force.