Process For Ban On Use Of Plastic, Polythene Bags Begins In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Acting on the directive of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Odisha government has started the process to ban use of plastic and polythene containers in the state.

A modality of the ban was discussed at a high-level meeting presided over by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here on Thursday.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, additional chief secretary, Forest and Environment, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said that to dissuade the people from using plastic and polythene containers, they would be paid on returning Omfed milk pouches and plastic bottles to the agents who would be engaged in the collection of these items.

A public notice in this regard would be issued by the end of August.

“The state government will give 15 days’ time to the people for their opinion in this regard while a law to this effect would be enacted by September 15,” Mohapatra said.

He said the chief secretary has directed the department concerned to implement the ban order within two weeks after the enactment of the law.

On July 10, the Chief Minister during a video conferencing of the ‘Ama Mukhyamantri, Ama Katha’ programme at the State Secretariat had announced a ban on the use of plastic and polythene in the state from October 2.

Stating that the decision has been taken as plastic has posed a serious threat to the environment, he had said that the use of plastic bag and polythene will be banned in Puri and all municipal corporations in the first phase and it will come into force in the remaining civic bodies in the next two years.

Seeking cooperation of the people to make the state free of plastic and polythene, he had said that the Urban and Housing Development and the Panchayati Raj departments have been directed to ensure strict implementation of the ban in the urban and rural areas respectively.