Enforce single-use plastic ban in letter and spirit: NGO

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 28

Members of Action Group Against Plastic Pollution (AGAPP), an NGO, staged a protest against the Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association, Punjab, on Gill Road in Ludhiana. The NGO demanded from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to enforce the ban on single-use plastic in the right manner and act against those violating the law.

Navneet Kaur Bhullar, the founder of the NGO, alleged that the protest was against the plastic industry’s highhandedness.

The NGO members raised slogans against the association and urged the government to take concrete action to stop plastic pollution. The members continued their protest for around two hours outside the shops of plastic traders. However, the traders kept the shops closed amid the protest.

Bhullar said, “Our NGO delegation held a meeting with PPCB chairman on September 9. The chairman told us that Gurdeep Singh Batra, Head, Plastic Manufacturers and Traders’ Association, had threatened a gherao of the PPCB building with 200 plastic industrialists if their factories were bothered.”

“A nexus of the PPCB and the plastic industry is destroying our land and water. It must stop. No one is above the law. The PPCB should act against those who are violating the law”, Bhullar said.

On the other hand, Gurdeep Singh Batra, president of Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association Punjab refuted the allegations levelled by the NGO. He said, “We are environment-friendly. We are not breaking any law. We had not threatened to stage any protest against PPCB.”

Batra said, “We demand from the state government to allow plastic carry bags of 75 microns or above in Punjab. We will continue our struggle for our demand.”

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