Jamshedpur, March 14 : Taking a tough stand against use of polythene in fairs, meals and exhibitions, Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) has issued a notice.It ordered organisation shosting of fairs, exhibitions and wedding functions about enforcement of ban on plastic carry bags.
� It was really surprising to see use of polythene. We have asked all institutions owning grounds or halls which usually host exhibitions, fairs or public functions including marriage parties about surprise inspection by our enforcement team on implementation of plastic carry bag ban. We already did a surprise inspection at Gopal Maidan which is hosting the Swadeshi Mela yesterday evening,� said JNAC special officer, Sanjay Kumar Pandey.
Incidentally, during the yesterday evening raid, around 5 kg of plastic carry bags were seized and a fine Rs 20,000 were collected from vendors selling products to consumers in carry bags.
A polythene bag is available at 50 p per piece while jute or cloth bags might come between Rs 3 and 4. However, in coming years a solution can also be chalked out on this. Meanwhile, the district public relations department also issued letters to all private schools for supporting the district administration in its campaign against use of plastics by writing messages against use of plastics both on front and back page of school diaries from next session.
�We have consulted few private schools and have come to know that the publishing of diaries for the next session will begin in October and this has made us issue this letter to all the private schools in city and outskirts,� said an officer.
For those schools who have already printed diaries for the next academic session the district public relation department will provide stickers which can be pasted on the diaries.
The East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amit Kumar has started a month-long sustained awareness campaign in the district against use of polythene in September in accordance of section V of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which bans manufacture, sale, storage and usage of plastic bags. The principal Act was amended in 2008 in which thickness of plastic bags was increased from 20 microns to 40 microns for manufacturers.