M'rashtra finally says no to plastic

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has finally decided to bag the bag. It was meant to be a quick sharp surgery, a complete ban on plastic bags.

But solid opposition from manufacturers saw the ban being deferred twice, but after six months of dilly-dallying, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday finally decided to ban plastic bags of less than 50 microns in the state.

The ordinance to pass this ban will be presented before the State Governor on Wednesday.

A special committee was set up to provide suggestions on implementing the ban. Committee head and ex-municipal commissioner V Ranganathan says, "More than the traders, an eye needs to be kept on the consumers."

"At present since there is no alternative to plastic, one doesn't have to ban it completely. In any case, plastic does not come into the waste tray. It gets recycled to establish channels of recollection. The emphasis has to be on the plastic carry bags which are used at the consumer level," he adds.

But if a ban does come along are there much chances of success?

Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, who are in-charge of implementing the ban say they don't think so.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Mumbai, Subrat Ratho says, "It is going to be very difficult to implement the ban because of the fact that the plastic is such a useful material at all levels - commercial and domestic."

The confusion finally comes to an end, with the government's decision to ban plastic upto 50 microns in the state.

However, the success of the ban will entirely depend upon how the civic authorities implements it.