By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 17 Oct: The Uttarakhand High Court has taken serious note of the fact that, despite a blanket ban on use of single use plastic in the state, it is still being brought in.
The court, today, directed the state government to impose a complete ban on plastic coming illegally from other states and enforce it by imposing strict blockades at state tax and police posts to prevent the entry. These directions were issued by the High Court’s division bench comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal while hearing a PIL filed in this regard.
Advocate Dushyant Mainali, the lawyer for the petitioners, stated that the PIL is concerning continued use of plastic bags in the state despite a ban on their use. He added that PIL also spoke about continued manufacturing of the plastic bags in the factories of the state and has mentioned the Plastic Waste Management Rules in the case.
It may be recalled, that earlier, the Court had issued directions to the government to prevent use of plastic bags in the state. In an order dated 7 July, 2022, the court had made it mandatory for plastic manufacturers to register with the Central Pollution Control Board and submit an action plan to the State Pollution Control Board. In December 2022, the State Pollution Control Board passed a compliance order and withdrew the consent for operating plastic manufacturing factories in the state.
Today, with the aim of making the state plastic bag free, the division bench has issued instructions to completely ban the plastic bags coming to the state from other states adjoining Uttarakhand.
