It felt good to wake up on Gandhi Jayanti and learn that the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) had banned the use of plastic carry bags in the State capital. The scourge of plastic that is destroying the Earth would be eliminated from Panjim, and this would be an example for the rest of Goa, and then the rest of the country to emulate. It was, however, just for a brief while that one could savour this thought before realisation dawned that attempts at making cities and towns plastic free in Goa had failed in the past few months, and one wondered if this would be yet another attempt by the city administration that would also end in failure.
The second realisation was that the State on Gandhi Jayanti had missed yet another self-imposed deadline to become open defecation free. The new deadline is December 19 this year, but with just two months and a half to the deadline, it seems that some villages will still not meet this date.
But, back to plastic. Take a look back to April this year, when CCP and other municipalities, following directives from the Central government had decided to start charging shopkeepers who sell and dispense plastic bags of a thickness that is greater than 50 microns an annual fees of Rs 48,000, a paltry Rs 5000 a month. This decision had not been acceptable to a large section of the traders – not just in Panjim but elsewhere too – who had felt that the fee being charged was too high, and that it would eat into their profit margins. This proposal had then been shelved as the traders sought that the fee should be reduced to a minimal amount.
This is one example, there have been many others. In December last year, on Liberation Day the Chief Minister had announced that there would be a complete ban on plastic in the State from May 30 this year. In the New Year, he had gone on to say that polyvinyl chloride-based plastic bags, the type used to package milk, would be banned by December 19 this year. Six months earlier, he had announced that trade in bags below 50 microns would be stopped from July 2017, with a fine imposed on those buying or selling the banned bags. These remained statements with no action, and plastic bags continue to be used indiscriminately in the State.
The success of the latest decision to ban plastic depends on the implementation and enforcement. It is not enough to have a law or a rule, it has to be enforced, and just how CCP aims to enforce it remains to be seen. Will CCP strictly enforce this? According to the details released by CCP those dispensing plastic bags and those carrying them will have to pay a heavy penalty, Rs 5000, and a special squad of five inspectors has been formed to keep a check on the use of plastic bags in the city. In the past week the corporation officers have met with traders showing them the alternatives to plastic bags that are available. It has also distributed cloth bags to the residents of the city, but on October 2, there were still people in Panjim who could be seen carrying plastic carry bags. This part, the enforcement, will always be the most difficult.
Along with the strict enforcement and imposition of fines, it may be necessary for the authorities to educate the people on the harm that the material can cause to the environment. Plastic is a threat because it is not biodegradable and can remain in the environment for decades, sometime up to 80 years, causing tremendous damage to the environment.
