Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Ban on plastics not implemented in Tirupati

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI JULY 6. The ban on plastics and switchover to paper announced with much fanfare almost a year ago has remained only on paper, owing to the laxity of the civic body in its enforcement.

The municipality had voluntarily announced the ban which it has not been able to implement.

Though only a six-month grace time was given to the public to facilitate a changeover to paper, the authorities are yet to follow it up.

Plastic products have been deluging the temple town with not only the denizens, but the tens of thousands of pilgrims visiting Tirupati daily using all sorts of products made from plastic and throwing them away at will.

The coloured carry bags and tea cups, the worst culprits in sabotaging the environment, are the commonly used plastic material in the town.

Even the municipality itself has faced numerous instances of plastic material getting clogged in the drains and main sewer lines.

The ban came with an announcement that not only the manufacturers, but the retailers and even the end-users would be fined for using carry bags with thickness less than 20 microns and tea cups. But no action has been taken.

The authorities have not cared to collect garbage at the primary level (from the houses) in two bins, one each for bio-degradable and non bio-degradable, though the practice is in vogue in much smaller towns.

Even leading business houses are not too willing to supply paper carry bags or packaging material to their customers.

At a meeting with the civic authorities held long ago, the members of the Tirupati Chamber of Commerce agreed to shift over to paper bags once their existing stock of pre-printed plastic bags got exhausted.

In private, everyone admits that paper bags are less preferred as they cost more than their plastic versions.

But, the paper campaigners say that with the unit cost difference being in paise only, it is all a matter of sterner modes of enforcement by the civic authorities for effecting the switchover.

And the entrepreneurs dreaming of paper-bag making units are feeling discouraged with neither the Industries department helping them in setting up units, nor the civic body providing them marketing support.

Without banning plastic, none would care to buy paper bags, they rue.

However, the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) vice-chairman and in-charge Municipal Commissioner, U. Subrahmanyam, said that without providing an alternative, plastic could not be abruptly banned.

He faults the low level of public awareness for the town becoming a plastic yard.

He is on the job of taking up a massive campaign in the next `Clean and Green' programme.

The municipality is also planning to cancel the contract awarded long ago to a private firm to separate non bio-degradable waste from the garbage.

Mr. Subrahmanyam said steps were on to increase public awareness on the hazards of plastic usage and their reckless disposal.

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