PUNE: The Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change has directed the principal secretary of the state urban development department to issue appropriate directions to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to implement the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) rules, 2011, in letter and spirit. The ministry has also sent a letter to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's member secretary in this matter.

The principal secretary has been told to inform the Union ministry about the status of the state-level advisory body that monitors the implementation of the rules. These directions were given after Shiv Sena corporator Seema Savale complained that the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation was not following these regulations.

The Union ministry has framed the rules and amended them under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The municipal corporation is the authority for enforcement of the provisions relating to use, collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of plastic waste.

Savale had sent a notice on June 30, 2014 under section 19(b) of the act to the principal secretary of the state environment department, member secretary and regional office of the pollution control board, secretary of the Union ministry of environment and forests, the municipal commissioner and the executive engineer.

She had obtained information under the Right to Information Act, 2005, which showed that PCMC had not sent quarterly reports of the action taken to implement these rules.

Savale said, "I have been following up the implementation of the plastic management rules with the environment department for the past two years. But they are not implementing them effectively. The municipal commissioner and pollution control board must act against the civic body's executive engineer for environment Sanjay Kulkarni."

Kulkarni said the then municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi, on December 1, 2012, had delegated powers to take action against carry bags that are less than 50 microns to the zonal officers and the health executive officer.

"These officers have to submit the reports to the environment department for us to compile and send as a quarterly report to the state government. We do not get the reports from the zonal offices on time so we cannot compile the reports. We have sent many reminders to the zonal officers, but there is always a delay," he added.