Traders, vendors and residents continued to use polythene bags more than the stipulated thickness in the city on Monday as the Patna Municipal Corporation's drive against the products was deferred - by a day for now.
The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, mandates use of plastic carry bags with thickness of more than 50 microns. Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) was supposed to resume its drive against use of polythene bags on Monday but the commissioner claimed lack of police force pushed back the operation.
Traders and residents in almost every locality such as Boring Road, Beer Chand Patel Path, Income Tax roundabout and Fraser Road carried bags not thicker than 50 microns, often not even knowing of a directive against it.
The Telegraph spotted resident Priyanjali Singh at a fruit shop near Income Tax roundabout with such a bag. She was not aware of the norms. Suresh Kumar, owner of a grocery store on Boring Road, said: "Most customers ask for polythene bags and rarely does any one come with a bag of their own. If I don't provide them polythene bags, I might lose out on customers. I obviously don't want."
PMC had decided to conduct surprise raids on various business establishments in the city from Monday, and penalise violators Rs 1,000-Rs 5,000.
Commissioner Abhishek Singh said the corporation could not launch the anti-polythene drive on Monday because of not getting police force and assured The Telegraph that the drive would take off from Tuesday.
"We had decided to resume our anti-polythene drive from Monday but we could not because of not getting enough force," he said. "We have been told we will get force on Tuesday and so we will resume the drive then."
Senior superintendent of police, however, Manu Maharaaj contested Singh's claim. "Whenever the corporation has required force for any drive, we are ready to provide them personnel," Maharaaj said. "There is no point of denying them force and to my knowledge we have not done so."
Sources in the PMC associated with the proposed drive claimed lack of planning was one of the reasons for the operation not to start on Monday.
"Several anti-polythene bag drives have been conducted in the past without much success. These kinds of drives can be successful only if the residents extend a helping hand. The same theory applies to solid waste management in the city," said an official in the New Capital circle on condition of anonymity. "If the residents become aware and make it a point to throw garbage only in bins and not all over the roads, problem of solid waste will be solved to a great extent."
