E-Paper
One year of plastic ban in Pune: shops thrive on ‘smuggled goods’
With 130 units shut in Pune, plastic finds its way from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh
The statewide plastic ban implemented on June 23, 2018, has failed to meet its purpose as plastic waste generation in the city has reduced only by 20 per cent. Along with it, the ban has had a devastating impact on the local economy striving on it.
In Pune district alone, a total of 130 out of 150 plastic manufacturing units have been closed down by the Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB) in a year after the ban came into effect, said officials and representatives of the industry.
The 20 manufacturing units are being allowed to operate only if they produce plastic required for industries.
Pramod Shah, a senior member of the Maharashtra plastic manufacturers’ association (MPMA), said, “On one hand plastic is still being used widely in the market, on the other hand, 86 per cent of the manufacturing units in the Pune district have been shut down. The fact that plastic is still available in the market when the manufacturing units are shut down clearly exhibits that plastic is being smuggled into the state.”
According to Shah, plastic in the state is being largely smuggled from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
He said, “The government’s insensitivity towards the lives that were dependent on this economy is disturbing. In Pune alone, areas such as Chakan, Kondhwa, Shindewadi, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Rajgurunagar have a large number of plastic manufacturing units, which are all shut down now.”
According to Nikhil Rathi, secretary of the MPMA, over 15 thousand people were directly or indirectly dependent on the plastic industry in the Pune district alone. If we consider this number from across the state, the count is alarming, he added.
Rathi said, “By implementing the plastic ban without a proper study, the government has made a major loss to its own exchequer. While the medium-scale manufacturers are shut down completely, large units a year later have begun moving to other places outside Maharashtra adding up the taxes for the respective states.”
There are close to 2,500 industries in the state that make plastic bags, while another 8,000 store and sell those. The number of those indirectly employed in the plastic industry is at least 25 lakh.
Senior Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials requesting anonymity, said, “It is true that from the few neighbouring states, plastic is entering the city and state, which is used in the markets. However, all the enforcement agencies are working towards controlling this illegal entry of plastic in the city and state.”
In the low
Number of plastic manufacturing units in Pune district before notification: 150
Number of plastic manufacturing units shut down by MPCB based on the violations under prevention and control of pollution act, 1974 and violations under the air prevention and control act 1981
Number of plastic manufacturing units in Pune district at present: 20*
(*These 20 manufacturing units have been given permission of operations only for making plastic for industry)
Livelihood dependent on the plastic industry in the district: 15,000
According to MPMA members, the ban imposed by the Maharashtra government from June 23, 2018, has hit the industry very hard and the plastic industry is staring at a loss: Rs 15,000 crore
