POLYTHENE BAN IN FORCE FROM TODAY
Gandhigiri, marches and awareness programmes. Plastic manufacturers told to not make polythene bags of less than 50 microns thickness.
LUCKNOW : To curb the use of plastic, the district administration has decided to resort to ‘Gandhigiri’. District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma has directed all government establishments to organise marches and awareness programmes, offering roses to poly bag users to make them realise the ill-effects of plastic. To note, the state government has banned use of polythene bag, measuring less than 50 microns, from July 15. He also directed entertainment and health departments to spread the message through FM channels, newspapers and street plays to keep a check on the use of polythene.
LUCKNOW: To curb the use of plastic, the district administration has now decided to resort to ‘Gandhigiri’ . District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma has directed all government establishments to organise marches and awareness programmes, offering roses to poly bag users to make them realise the ill-effects of plastic .
To note, the state government has banned use of polythene bag, measuring less than 50 microns, from July 15.
In a recent meeting with traders, education department, nagar nigam and other departments, the DM directed the stakeholders to opt for Gandhigiri . He said the traders and schools goers should take out marches or offer roses to polythene bag users. He said he wanted people to quit using polythene bags on their own, rather than by force.
Sharma said the government departments should make sure that the fight against the use of polythene bags became a mass movement. As per DM’s order,
the traders at Patrakar Puram took out a march on Saturday to spread awareness among the masses. Similar marches and awareness programmes were seen in other parts of the city where people also pledged to not use poly bags.
The DM also directed the education department to rope in students from all schools, colleges and universities, asking them to create awareness in their families. “The students would be asked to create awareness among their family members and neighbours, asking them to quit use of polythene bags,” he said.
He has also directed the entertainment and health department to spread the message through FM channels, newspapers and street plays to keep a check on the use of polythene. “The departments would ensure no use of polythene in their respective jurisdictions while the NCC and NSS cadets would spread awareness at public places like bus and railway stations,” he said.
Sharma said the polythene manufactures and users should dispose of their polythene stock as after July 15, it would be seized and legal action initiated against them. The manufacturers have also been told to not make polythene bags of less than 50 microns.
This is perhaps the third time when the state is going in for the ‘ban polythene’ exercise. Initially, the former SP government had imposed a ban on the polythene bags following a court order in December 29, 2015, after cabinet approval. But the ban was not effectively implemented. On January 20, 2016, the government issued an order to ban use of polythene bags.
There were some raids and polythene stock was seized but the enforcement agencies again failed to ensure effective implementation of the ban. Now the ban is being enforced for the third time.