After witnessing partial ban on polythene bags failing miserably, the Government is working to bring complete ban in place as soon as possible. A senior forest department official said that complete ban on polythene bag was expected to be approved by cabinet in not more than a month.
“We have sent the draft document for the same to the Chief Minister office and expect that the same would be brought for discussion within two-three cabinet meetings, which could be the only solution for healthy State,” said Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department Special Secretary AK Rastogi on Monday.
He added that the existing ban on polythene bags of less than 50 micron was extremely difficult due to various reasons. Notably, the department had started working on the proposal of blanket ban on use of plastic bags right after Chief Minister Raghubar Das had in February this year announced that complete ban on polythene bags would be brought in effect soon.
“Partial ban is extremely difficult because of recognition, testing and execution processes. There would appear too many grey areas in process of getting one executed in case of violation. However, complete ban will give us freedom to lock the sourcing and producing destinations, making enforcement easy for all the departments involved including Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board,” said Rastogi.
Extending his words, Ranchi DC Manoj Kumar admitted that enforcement team had failed miserably in imposing existing ban. “Blanket ban can be imposed easily. After it (blanket ban) comes into effect, we can ask for list of all plastic manufacturers, suppliers and retailers from the Department of Industries. We need to ban visibility of polythene bag, only then it will make some sense keeping in mind that demanding plastic bags to keep even already polythene pouch packed goods like milk and oil has become a fashion in country,” said Kumar.
Notably, measurement of thickness of bag has remained a nationwide issue while imposing ban on polythene bags of less than 50 micron of thickness. “Moreover, an expert team is needed to measure such polythene. However, in case of complete ban, the same will be easier,” added Kumar.