Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday said the city Government will request the Centre Government to reduce GST on raw materials for production of alternatives to single-use plastic items. Rai appealed to all the citizens of Delhi to join hands with government to encourage and promote start-ups/entrepreneurs producing other single use plastic alternatives and to make Delhi a plastic free city for citizens.
Rai, who chaired a roundtable with stakeholders to discuss SUP alternatives on Sunday, said that there is a lot of confusion among public and even some government agencies regarding the items covered under the ban. "We will conduct a training session for our enforcement teams so that there is no confusion while implementing the ban," said the minister.
The government will also issue a helpline number to register complaints if action is taken for using products that are not banned, Rai said.After some stakeholders drew minister's attention towards high GST rates on raw material for green alternatives, Rai said the city government will write to the Centre on issue. “The Delhi government will request Centre to reduce GST rates on raw material to manufacture alternatives to single-use plastics.
People think a ban on SUP items mean a ban on plastic carry bags and that is why there is an urgent need to create awareness among public,” said Rai. The Delhi government is also working on a website which will contain all information related to banned SUP items.