Ban on plastic carry bags fizzles out in city

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Ludhiana: Despite the ban, use of plastic carry bags is rampant in the city.
Even as some shopkeepers are complying with the directive, the others are not. The MC officials, however, blame supply of plastic carry bags from other states for their availability in city.
The officials claimed that from July 1 to July 22, as many as 469 challans were issued to those using plastic carry bags and 360 kg of these were seized. The maximum challans (135) were issued in Zone D and a penalty of Rs 2.05 lakh was recovered from defaulters. Recently, mayor Balkar Sandhu had called a meeting with roadside vendors and asked them to avoid use of plastic carry bags.
While the officials have been conducting checks in the city, residents feel the drive is eyewash, with the “MC failing to crack whip on big fish”. This year, the Punjab Pollution Control Board has conducted only one drive against manufacturers and the rest of the drives were against shopkeepers and roadside vendors.
Parkash Khanna, a resident of Himmat Singh Nagar, said, “The authorities should act against residents, too, who use plastic carry bags. Animals consume these from garbage heaps and die.”
Ram Kumar, a shopkeeper in Haibowal, said, “The authorities should plug the supply of plastic carry bags and encourage their alternatives to make the ban effective.”
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “First, we are conducting drives to educate people not to use plastic carry bags. The bags have choked the city sewerage system and polluted Buddha Nullah. We will now start imposing the ban strictly. The drive can be a success only if residents support the cause and stop taking plastic carry bags from traders.”
The Punjab government had passed the Punjab Plastic Carry Bag Act in 2005. According to it, manufactures should not manufacture carry bags from virgin plastic of thickness of not less than 30 micron and of size not less than 8”x12”. After the act was amended, the government imposed a complete ban on the manufacturing, stocking and use of plastic carry bags and thermocol products in state with immediate effect from February 1, 2016. The announcement was made in April 2016.