Unlike several civic bodies in the country, the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) has no say on the use of types of polythene that are hazardous for humans, animals and the environment.
“We have not conducted any drives in the recent past to regulate the use of polythene or to seize banned polythene,” said Assistant Commissioner JR Soni.
All the polythene bags less than the prescribed limit of 40 micron are termed hazardous and are banned. However, when contacted, officials of the Health Department of the civic body said they were not aware of micron levels in polythene. “Work of testing the micron level of a polythene belongs to the Department of Weights and Measurements,” the officials said.
When contacted the Department of Weights and Measurements, the assistant of Controller said that they do not check the micron levels of a polythene. The Controller was not available for comments. Out of tonnes of garbage that the city produces every day, the RMC does not separate the plastic from degradable waste. Presently, there is no recycling system to process the garbage in the city.
A heavy fine up to thousands is imposed in cities like Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Indore and lucknow if polythene more than a fixed micron level is used for food packaging.
“I have apprised the officials in the RMC several times about the unabated use of hazardous polythene in the city but in vain. Not only it is degrading the quality of soil and groundwater, stray animals are reeling under its toxic too,” environmental activist Gautam Bandopadhyay told The Pioneer.