Early Times Report
Jammu, June 2: Principal Secretary Law K Y S Manhas, Vice Chairman of "We The Human" forum today appealed state government to impose complete ban on use of plastic bottles in any form. According to press release, Manhas asked people and the local government authorities to wage a war against plastic pollution caused by the MNCs like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Bisleri etc by pumping in attractive single use plastic soft drinks and packaged water bottles in our state. He said that Jammu and Kashmir, being a prominent eco-tourist and piligrim- tourist state, with lacs of tourists visiting Kashmir valley, the holy cave of Mata Vaishno Devi through out the year and Shri Amar Nath Cave during 3-4 months, these multi national companies are pumping in crores of single use plastic soft drinks and packaged water bottles in our state, every year. "This is a bitter truth that J&K State is far behind other states of the country with regard to solid waste management. This is a fact that more than fifty percent of all such plastic bottles become serious cause for polluting our environment including our glaciers", he said and added that our flora, our fauna, our rivers, our hills, our environment, all, are getting polluted; with local government authorities watching the erosion of our environment either helplessly or have just closed their eyes like an ostrich. He said although, the state government banned use of single use plastic soft drinks or packaged water bottles in all government offices vide order No-GAD(Adm)45 /2018-111 Dated:- 8.03.2019, yet this is not being implemented strictly in all government offices. The Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology J&K Government took another welcoming step by banning all non bio-degradable disposables like plastic/ thermocol plates, bowls, cups, glasses, spoons, knives, forks etc. vide the order No. FST/PCB/ 22/2017 Dated 26/03/2019; but, the imposed ban lacks implementation as most of the food restaurants are still using non bio-degradable disposables for take away or home delivery orders. |
