Environmentalists and concerned citizens have welcomed the High Court of Uttarakhand’s direction to all 13 district magistrates of the State to appear before it and submit report on action taken on its earlier order banning polythene. Observers point out that the situation has come to this due to varied factors of which a combination of governmental apathy and lack of civic sense appears to be a major factor.
During the tenure of the Congress-led state government in 2012, the state government had announced a state-wide prohibition on polythene and disposable utensils made of polystyrene. A state level advisory body had also been formed at that time to monitor implementation of the ban but barring initiatives undertaken at the local level, little was done to ensure effective enforcement of the polythene ban which was further diluted by public apathy.
It is pertinent to mention here that during the tenure of the previous chief minister, after the state government’s declaration of a state-wide ban on polythene in 2012 to prevent environmental damage, the State administration had also ordered the formation of a State level advisory body but for the next couple of years after its formation was ordered, this body chaired by the urban development secretary could not even hold a meeting towards discharging its task of monitoring the implementation of the ban on polythene in Uttarakhand.
On July 23, 2012, the then chief secretary Alok Kumar Jain had written to all district magistrates, senior superintendents of police, member secretary of the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB), director of the Urban Development directorate and director of the Panchayati Raj department regarding the ban on polythene bags in Uttarakhand. He had written that according to the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011, carry-bags of recycled plastic or compostable plastics cannot be used for storing, carrying, dispensing or packaging food stuffs; manufacturing, stocking, distribution or sale of any carry bag made of virgin, recycled or compostable plastic less than 40 microns in thickness is prohibited and that sachets using plastic materials shall not be used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
Apart from this, orders were passed for formation of the state level advisory committee under the urban development secretary to monitor the prohibition. During 2014, when the coordinator of a local group of concerned citizens applied to the Urban Development department under the Right to Information Act seeking information about the members of the State level advisory board and minutes of the board’s meetings held so far, the department forwarded this application to the Forest and Environment department which in turn returned the application to the Urban Development department which was responsible for formation of the said advisory body. Considering the failure of the department to provide the sought information, it was revealed through the application under the RTI Act that two years after its formation was ordered, the state level advisory body had yet to hold a meeting. This made it appear as if the State government had first announced the ban on polythene and then began working on the policy for this whereas the policy should have been drafted by the state government before announcing the ban, opine observers. Apart from this, there was confusion about whether all polythene bags were banned irrespective of thickness or whether only those polythene bags measuring less than 40 microns were banned. At the time, in the provision state capital Dehradun, the district administration and municipal corporation of Dehradun undertook enforcement and public awareness drives to such an extent that for some time in some markets, the vendors and shopkeepers could be seen using recycled paper bags and fabric bags instead of the polythene bags. Briefly, it appeared as if the polythene ban could be enforced with an active administration working with a compliant and concerned public. However, the practice of using paper or fabric bags instead of polythene fizzled out as the enforcement drives became less frequent with the focus of both the establishment and the public being elicited by issues other than polythene use and its damaging effect on the environment.
In the following years the issue of Ganga pollution was also raised in the National Green Tribunal by an applicant while more recently a public interest litigation was filed in the high court of Uttarakhand in Nainital by advocate lalit Miklani stating that in the past the high court had ordered that the pollutants and waste being dumped into the Ganga river be stopped apart from which polythene was banned across the state.
The petitioner also pointed out the failure of the state administration to effectively execute the earlier orders of the high court. Observers opine that with the issue of polythene ban and Ganga pollution being taken to the high court, many including environmentalists, members of various professional fraternities and concerned citizens are hopeful that necessary action will be taken to make the state polythene-free while preventing contamination of the Ganga.