Hyderabad: The environmentally concerned Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been promoting the plastic ban and raising eco-friendly awareness programmes, but it is doing so through flexis, vinyl hoardings and other such non eco-friendly means.
Despite imposing the plastic ban in the city and imposing fines on violators, the GHMC has been promoting environmental awareness only through plastic.
Even the civic body’s World Environment Day campaigns were done in the same way.
Though they have the option to use cloth banners for single-day campaigns, they have not done so. Officials are even using single use plastic bottles in all GHMC offices despite the ban imposed by the commissioner.
Currently, out of 5,000 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste generated by the city, 450-500 MT is plastic waste. The corporation has even made an action plan for a complete ban on plastic by 2022.
However, it needs to start practising what it preaches. Single use plastic water bottles will be found in all circle, zonal and headquarters right from City mayor’s chamber, GHMC commissioner’s office to deputy commissioner at the ground level. Flexies can be seen on all swachh auto tippers, monsoon action team vehicles, and instant repair team vehicles. Plastic banners are common.
Despite Municipal Administration and Urban Development principal secretary Arvind Kumar instructing strict implementation of the Public Properties Defacement Act, the GHMC, which is supposed to enforce it, is instead violating it and promoting its own programmes by erecting hoardings and flexies.
In January, after examining hoardings, flexies, posters and banners in the city Mr Kumar had asked the civic body to remove them immediately.
He directed officials to ensure that unauthorised flexies conveying birthday greetings, political banners, pamphlets/posters of educational institutions such as colleges and coaching centres in residential areas, on streetlight poles, and at junctions in GHMC areas are not permitted. However, his instructions fell on deaf ears.
Ignoring Mr Kumar’s instructions, the civic body has turned a blind eye to hoardings, flexies and banners in public places including roads, streetlight poles, flyovers, bus shelters and government offices. Mr Kumar said zonal commissioners will levy penalty on institutions and persons pasting advertising material on walls of bus shelters, central divider blocks, walls of flyovers and Metro stations.
Responsibility should be fixed on Sanitary Field Assistants in their respective jurisdictions. GHMC officials were unavailable for comment.
Only Rs 26 lakh collected as penalty in 24 months
Ever since this came into effect, the corporation has been penalising the manufacturers only during the Swachh Survekshan survey since it gets points for levying fines.
Hyderabad: You will find plastic bags of below the stipulated 50 microns in every nook and corner of the city, but the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has collected a mere RS 26.03 lakh in fines from violators of the ban. It has also booked 2,625 cases in one year.
As of now, the plastic ban in Hyderabad applies to the manufacture and use of plastic carry bags measuring below 50 microns, which is about 0.05 millimetres.
This is in accordance with the plastic waste management rules, 2016 of the Central government, which made it mandatory to ban plastic bags of less than 50 microns.
However, ever since this came into effect, the corporation has been penalising the manufacturers only during the Swachh Survekshan survey since it gets points for levying fines. According to the data collected from the corporation, it has booked 2,625 cases and collected `26.03 lakh in fines in two financial years, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Corporation sources say that if the corporation collects penalty from shops that use the banned plastic bags, the fine would cross one crore.
