Imphal, April 21 : The Okram Ibobi Singh government has embarked on an ambitious plan to make Imphal free of plastic bags and bottles, as part of his government’s efforts to clean and beautify the city.
Sources said the Manipur Pollution Control Board and Imphal Municipal Council had been entrusted with the plastic waste management project and a seven-member state-level advisory board would be constituted to oversee its implementation.
The commissioner, Manipur housing and urban development department, Sunderlal Sharma, would be the chairman of the board, while its members would include officials of other departments, one expert each from urban local bodies, NGOs and an academic institution.
The advisory board would make recommendations on how to deal with plastic item manufacturers along with collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of plastic waste.
It would also propose public dumping sites at suitable places from where the waste material could be collected.
The plastic waste management project comes in the wake of a campaign launched last year in the city by the Imphal Municipal Council to make the city garbage-free.
Under the campaign, city residents were made participants in keeping the environment clean by not disposing household garbage randomly and instead, hand it over to the council’s collection vehicles.
The council charged every household Rs 200 per month for the collection service.
Between the two implementing agencies, the pollution control board would be dealing with the state’s plastic item manufacturers and also check plastic bags coming from outside, including those coming in from Myanmar, while the municipal council would be dealing with collection, storage, transportation and disposal the plastic waste, the sources said.
The municipal council would also have to ensure that no harm was caused during the process of disposal of the plastic waste.
The Ibobi Singh government’s decision follows the notification of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 by the Centre on April 1 this year.
Member secretary of the pollution control board, K. Jagadishwor Singh, is expected to issue a notification to initiate implementation of the project soon.
Manipur has eight registered manufacturers of plastic bags and other plastic materials. Though officials of the state pollution control board inspect the manufacturing units from time to time, environmentalists have been asserting that manufacturers flout rules in the manufacturing process.