Delhi makes another bid to ban plastic bags.

Mail Today , Sunday, February 20, 2011
Correspondent :
THE BAN worked for a while. Polythene bags, which have become an integral part of our daily lives, were all of a sudden missing from the stores of Delhi.

Delhiites, although acknowledging the climate- harming qualities of the poly bag, struggled to cope with its absence. They needed it to carry home goods from the neighbourhood grocer, food from the roadside vendor and vegetables from the local market. It was needed to throw away waste in the morning.

Its usefulness could be gauged from the fact that at least a dozen polythene bags -- the number could be more -- make it to the home of a Delhiite every day.

As paper bags failed to fill the void left by the ban on poly bags, the latter made a quite return. The odd- shopkeeper started flouting it first. The customer didn't mind.

Very soon, all shopkeepers were flouting the ban.

That was in 2009. Will a fresh ban on the polythene bag succeed? After failing to ban plastic bags in spite of strict penalties, wide publicity and a notification, the Delhi government is planning to ban its production in the Capital. The move is seen as a last resort to the ban bags, which damage the environment.

The authorities blame the absence of any cheap, reliable alternatives and the huge availability of plastic bags in Delhi for the bag's continued popularity among the masses.

If the new proposal is approved by the state cabinet, Delhi will become the second state after Himachal Pradesh to make production of polythene bags illegal.

The ban may still not work because the authorities acknowledge polythene bags are brought into the city in huge numbers from manufacturing plants in five states adjoining Delhi. " We are aware of this problem and will be tackling it after the ban on plastic bag manufacturing is implemented," chief secretary Rakesh Mehta said.

Environment department officials said they were working on a plan to make the ban successful this time. " One of the steps is asking the manufacturers of plastic bags to produce something else instead of shutting down so that the livelihood of workers is not affected," an official said.

Besides, the government also plans to study the successful implementation of the ban on poly bags in Himachal Pradesh and emulate those steps in Delhi.

The Delhi government first brought out a notification banning the use of plastic bags in the Capital in January 2009. The notification empowered the authorities to raid shopkeepers, establishments and other outlets. The guilty can be fined up to ` 1lakh or face jail.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONCLAVE

The Delhi government will host a two- day international conference ' Cities and Climate Change' at Vigyan Bhavan. The conference will be held on February 21- 22. Hundreds of national and international experts will share their ideas on how to make cities more environment- friendly. The government is also in the process of creating a happiness index for Delhi and will be deciding on the parameters after the conference.

 
SOURCE : http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Delhi+makes+another+bid+to+ban+plastic+bags.-a0249594431
 


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