Polythene ban a must

National survey reveals for Swachh Bharat

New Delhi: An overwhelming majority of Indians surveyed feel that civic bodies across the country have been ineffective in reducing the use of polythene bags in the first two years of the Swachh Bharat initiative in spite of the central government and the National Green Tribunal banning their use.

As many as 79 per cent of those surveyed by the Local Circles organisation expressed this view. Of these, 48 per cent said their municipality has not been able to reduce polythene usage, while 31 per cent said their urban local body has taken no action on the subject.

The citizen consultation and poll exercise was conducted amongst 345,000 people across India. Seventy-six percent felt there should be a total ban on the manufacture of polythene bags in the interest of the Swachh Bharat campaign.

A number of suggestions were also made for drastically reducing the use of polythene bags. Among them:

• Jute, paper bags should be made mandatory in malls, supermarkets
• Licence of retail chain stores should be suspended if found using polythene bags
• Govt should enact laws for banning poly-packaging
• Shops should be allowed to charge Rs 5 to 10 for the bag they are giving
• Every municipality must have a poly-packaging inspection cell
• Shops/businesses selling poly-packaged products should be fined
• The number of units manufacturing polybags should be curtailed
• Kids should be educated in school to not use poly-packaged products;
• A serious thought should be given to alternates
• These alternates should be made available easily on a wide scale