Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology, Chaudhary Lal Singh on Mondaysaid Government has formulated an action plan to take polythene smugglers to task.While taking a review meeting of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) here, the Minister said that strict guidelines have been issued to the officers at Lakhanpora, Lowr Munda toll posts for keeping an eye on the smuggling of polythene into the Kashmir valley.The Minister said that similar instructions have been issued to the industrial units who have been asked not to make any polythene bags which are later smuggled into Kashmir valley.The Minister said that units not complying with the State Pollution Control Board guidelines would be taken to the task. Mr Singh further said that instructions have already been passed to the concerned officers to launch a massive anti-polythene smuggling campaign across the State.
The meeting was attended by Chairman, SPCB, Ravi Kesar, Member Secretary, Vasu Yadav, Secretary Technical Forest Department, BM Sharma among other senior members of SPCB and officers of the Forest Department.The Minister asked the officials to implement the ban in letter and spirit and urged people not to use polythene. He said that there is a need to launch massive anti-polythene drives across the State. He directed officials to interact with the traders and business community members and asked them to destroy their polythene stocks failing which strict action would be initiated against the offenders.The Minister assured the people that this environmentally-hazardous material wouldn’t be allowed to enter the state through Lakhanpur. “We are keenly mentoring the polythene smugglers,” he said.