Aksheev Thakur
New Delhi, February 18
A parliamentary panel has pulled up the Union Environment Ministry, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Pollution Control Committees (PCC) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) in Delhi, Punjab and Sikkim for failing to handle and monitor plastic waste in the country.
Barring Punjab, neither Sikkim nor Delhi has any action plan for plastic waste management.
In its report, the committee found that the Union Environment Ministry did not have any action plan to manage plastic waste. It also said that the SPCB and PCCs in Delhi, Punjab and Sikkim did not provide data on plastic waste generation between 2016 and 2018 to the CPCB.
Moreover, the authenticity of the data provided by the SPCB and PCCs for 2018-2020 were not corroborated by the CPCB even though there were inconsistencies in them.
“The committee notes that there has been no uniform method for the assessment of plastic waste generation within a state and the data of plastic waste generation reported by urban local bodies was based on assumptions and lacked sound rationale,” the report said.
It also stated that the CPCB admitted before the committee to have not made any projection of the plastic waste generation based on population size, geographical size of the area, economic growth, increased demand for consumer goods and change in manufacturing methods.
The committee recommended that the ministry, in coordination with the CPCB, take concrete steps for making projections of waste generation for formulating a comprehensive waste management policy.
The report also stated that the urban local bodies in Punjab and Sikkim were not involved in the segregation of plastic waste as the same is done by ragpickers. Sikkim does not have any recycling or processing units in the state and the recyclable fraction of the plastic waste is sent to Siliguri.
“The committee can see from the oral evidence rendered before it that there is lack of coordination amongst the agencies concerned with the resolution of related issues. The committee further recommends that clear responsibilities be assigned,” the panel said.
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