AMBALA: After guidelines of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and worrying situation of garbage processing in Ambala, single-use plastic, polythene will stand completely banned by the authorities in the Ambala district from November 1 onwards.
The administration has got itself prepared for the uphill task and the officials told that if any shopkeepers or street vendors found with the single-use polythene or plastic, they would have to deposit fine ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 25,000.
Ambala does not have any waste processing plant and the single-use plastic waste polluted the entire district very badly and it can be spotted scattered all over the areas.
Even the places from where the garbage is lifted area clogged with plastic waste.
After this decision of the administration, those running shops or business of disposal products have also got worried.
A shopkeeper Mukesh Jain said, “Before imposing the ban, the government should lift the stock available with the shopkeepers and compensate them as we have paid tax for purchasing the same legally. Due to lockdown, we are already struggling through hard times and the decision will further make our time tough.”
Another shopkeeper Manoj dealing in single-used plastic items said, “The ban on plastic is a good decision but instead of targeting small shopkeepers, the administration should take action against the manufacturers and factories of plastic, polythene, thermocol or plastic disposal items. With time we have started dealing with biodegradable disposal items.”
Ambala Sadar Municipal Council (MC) secretary Rajesh Kumar said, “Taking a step forward, Ambala Sadar MC has decided to ban single-use plastic and polythene from November 1 onwards. The decision has been taken as guidelines of NGT after the Swachh Survekshan. Strict action will be taken against the violators and announcements are being made in the areas.”
In November 2019, to tackle pollution from single-use plastic, the Ambala district administration had implemented barter system rice-for-plastic under which the collectors of plastic were given rice in exchange for it of the equivalent weight in all sub-division of the district.
As per the officials, over 20 tonnes of single-use plastic was collected in the district in 2019 and it was handed over to a firm for making renewable energy at a plant in the Mullana area.
An officer said the response to the rice-for-plastic scheme was that over 20,000 kg of waste single-use plastic was collected and as much rice were distributed to the persons who collected for free in 2019.