Goa and Mumbai: Crusaders for a lost cause
Goa: Misfire
The government of Goa adopted the central government notification and the ban on recycled bags with thickness less than 20 microns into force on August 15, 2000. But the authorities ended up campaigning against the black-coloured bags. The government drive was meant to be an awareness campaign continuing for about a month rather and not coercive in character according to the district authorities in South Goa.
The awareness campaign, unfortunately, left the people a little bemused. P Krishnamurthy, district collector of South Goa claims, "The plastic bags were voluntarily handed over to the enforcement agencies.' However, taking advantage of the loopholes in the implementation of ban, the plastic bag manufacturers circulated the white bags with less than 20 microns in various markets of the state. The authorities were not well equipped to measure the thickness of these bags so as to crack down on all plastic bags less than 20 microns.
"As it happens with all laws and administrative orders, the authorities were be caught unprepared when it came on implementing the ban on plastic bags,' says a report of Navhind Times , Goa. The authorities were incapable of distinguishing between the permitted bags and the banned ones according to this report. Confusion also reigned large because of misleading hoarding. The civic authorities of Goa refused to shoulder the responsibility of catching the guilty. "It is not our duty to take action against the usage of plastic bags under municipalities act,' stated the chairperson of Margao municipal council, Ghanshyam Shirodkar.
The lack of political will towards the implementation of the ban was clearly visible in view of ensuing municipal elections. The Goa Pollution Control Board, pressurised by NGOs, purchased eight measuring instruments to check whether the bags are below 20 microns. These arrived only in the first week of October 2000 and are being put to use by the Board, police and collector's offices now.
A very muddled beginning.
Mumbai: A battle won. A war lost?
With a ban on the lines of the central notification being enforced in August, 2000 and well-prepared administrative machinery, a concentrated approach and strong support of the citizens of Mumbai, the ban on thin plastic bags became a successful exercise. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) felt a ban was not enough and a concerted follow-up for compliance was made. Not only the trader but the consumer too were fined BMCbecame the third municipal corporation, after Pune and Nashik, to institute the ban in Maharashtra. It has chalked out a four-point programme for a successful drive. As per the programme the Maharashtra Pollution control Board will be taking action against manufacturers of polythene plastic.
The civil corporations on the other hand will be in charge of raiding and levying fines on the distributors and the suppliers of these goods. The octroi department will check the entry of such bags into the concerned areas and lastly the civil administration will run an awareness campaign on the drive. Enforcing the ban on thin plastic bags, nearly 100