E-Paper
Ludhiana MC intensifies drive against single-use plastic
Fine up to Rs 20,000 can be imposed depending upon the quantity of plastic bags confiscated.
Struggling to impose a complete ban on the use of plastic bags for the last four years, the municipal corporation (MC) has once again decided to intensify a drive against the manufacturing of single-use plastic in the city.
Working on the lines of Indore MC, the Ludhiana civic body has decided to implement a complete ban on manufacturing and use of plastic bags below the width of 50 microns in the city.
Fine up to Rs 20,000 can be imposed depending upon the quantity of plastic bags confiscated.
The decision was taken during a meeting wherein the committee members, who had recently visited Indore, gave a presentation to mayor Balkar Sandhu at his camp office on Wednesday. A committee comprising six officials had recently visited Indore to get an idea of the solid waste management in the cleanest city of the country.
Ludhiana secured 34th rank among 47 cities with over 10 lakh population in the Swachh Survekshan 2020, while Indore stood at the first position for the fourth consecutive year.
The MC team which had visited Indore included councillors Parvinder Lapran, Baljinder Bunti, Pankaj Kaka, councillor Sunita Rani’s son Deepak Sharma, MC Secretary Jasdev Sekhon, and senior assistant engineer Harpal Aujla.
Councillor of ward number 74, Pankaj Sharma said, “It has been decided that MC will implement a complete ban on the use of plastic bags below the width of 50 microns. Use of plastic carry bags below 50-micron width is a major hurdle in the solid waste management and the plastic waste also chokes the sewer lines.”
The officials also decided to develop a few city wards as model wards for setting an example for others. Sharma said that the committee members have also asked the mayor to deploy a nodal officer for implementing the ban.
Sharma said, “A ban on the use of plastic bags has already been implemented in my ward and shopkeepers have been given 10 days to stop using plastic bags or challans would be imposed on the violators.”
MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said that there are a number of points on which the civic body can work upon but those would be implemented in phases.
The civic body has decided to go strict against the use of plastic bags and the committee members have been asked to submit their recommendations in writing.
The state government had imposed a complete ban on the use of plastic carry bags in April 2016, but the MC has been struggling to implement the same in the city. The drives initiated against the use of plastic carry bags got derailed due to political pressure or resentment shown by traders.
