Tuesday, 13 September 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
Hearing on a public interest litigation regarding the ban on plastic and management of plastic waste in the State, the division bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe expressed dissatisfaction at the affidavits submitted by the district magistrates in the court. The court observed that the government is not taken any legal steps for addressing the situation but doing the work on paper with nothing being done at the ground level. Making the Plastic Waste Management Committee created by the government in 2019 a party in the case, the court said that the committee will be responsible for the compliance from now onward. The committee has been directed to hold a meeting with all district magistrates and find an effective way for proper disposal of the waste. The HC has also directed all the divisional forest officers to prepare maps of Van Panchayats in their respective areas and upload the same on digital platform. An app for complaints will also be prepared to ensure redressal of the complaints in the matter. The Forest department has been directed to take action regarding the garbage in forest areas. The court has further directed the State government to prepare model standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling plastic waste. All the district magistrates have been directed to implement the plastic waste management rules issued by the Government of India.
The Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) informed the court on Monday that its officials had toured various local bodies on the directions of the court and found that the rules of the board were not being followed in these local bodies. The court was further informed that if the rules are not being followed, the UEPPCB can impose a penalty of Rs one lakh per month for environmental damage on these local bodies.
It will be recalled that Almora resident Jitendra Yadav had filed the PIL stating that the plastic use and waste management rules made by the State government in 2013 was not being followed. Provisions of the Plastic Waste Management Rules of the Central Government are also being violated in the State, the petitioner has contended. There are heaps of plastic waste in the mountainous regions with the waste not being disposed of properly.
