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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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State fails to ensure ban on recycled polythene

Staff Reporter

Customers are handed over these banned carry bags everywhere

Ban came into effect on May 1
Action plan to execute the order soon

- Photo: Lingaraj Panda

Here to stay? A scene at a shop in Berhampur on Saturday.

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the ban on manufacture, import, storage and use of recycled polythene came into effect on May 1, the State government is yet to accelerate its administrative machinery for a crackdown.

Expeditious execution of ban order was crucial as Orissa High Court had directed the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and the Industries Department to file compliance reports to it separately by May 15.

On April 24, HC division bench comprising of Chief Justice A.K.Ganguly and Justice Indrajit Mohanty took strong exceptions of non-execution of repeated ban order on polythene and prohibited use of recycled polythene.

Despite the blanket ban on recycled polythene, the use of “poisonous” carry bags has been widely noticed. From roadside vending zones to multi-storied shopping complexes, customers are handed over these banned carry bags everywhere without any hesitation.

Prohibition

“There has not been any announcement on the prohibition of polythene. Then it is difficult for us to know as to which substance is banned. Moreover, polythene of every colour and size are abundantly available in the market,” Babuli Rout, a fish vendor, said here.

Reports from Berhampur and Cuttack tell the same story. There has been hardly any initiation of action in this regard.

State government has empowered Divisional Forest Officers, Assistant Conservation of Forest and selected executives of municipality authorities to carry out the order of High Court.

When asked, the Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Aparajita Sarangi said, “we have not started crackdown on manufacturer and polythene storage units yet. We will soon formulate an action plan in coordination with city DFO on how to execute the order.”

“This work is new to civic bodies. We want to internalise the matter before going for overhaul,” Ms. Sarangi said.

State environment director Bhagirathi Behera said his department had already communicated ban order to all district Collectors and DFOs. “We are getting scattered information about the actions being initiated in different places,” Mr. Behera said.

Expressing strong anguish, the HC division Bench had told that the court was forced to encroach upon the administrative domain of the State government because it (State government) did not take any step to phase out the use of recycled polythene, which was detrimental to environment and local ecology.

The harsh reaction was culmination of series of non-execution of ban order on use of polythene in the State.

In January 2004, the HC had asked the Forest Department to ensure phasing out of use of polythene in the State.

But when the Forest Department failed to carry out the orders, the municipalities were empowered for raids. Even the civic body authorities too failed in the endeavour.

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