1. Home
2. Front Page

HC asks Govt to implement ban on polythene entry, usage

SYED BASHARAT. Dated: 7/19/2012 12:32:02 AM

‘Appoint 3 officers, file action taken report’

SRINAGAR, July 18: Taking a strong exception to polythene use in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Court has asked the government to ensure implementation of ban on business and usage of non degradable polythene in the state. The Court has also sought status report within
three weeks on steps taken in compliance to its directions on the matter.
According to Mohammad Ishaq Qadri, advocate general, a division bench comprising Chief Justice M M kumar and Justice Husnain Masoodi, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation on conservation of Dal Lake, directed the state government to come with a report on implementation of ban on polythene in the state.
The Court has asked the state government to appoint three officers to monitor and check the entry of polythene from outside the state in Jammu and Kashmir via Jammu-Udhampur railway station, Lakhanpur toll post and Lower Munda.
The deputy commissioner sales tax has also been ordered to report whether his department levies any taxes on polythene business. Third, the court has asked the government to give wide publicity in print media asking shopkeepers and businessman associated with polythene
business to disclose the quantity of polythene in their possession and surrender the same before the municipality within 15 days, or face legal action.
The traffic department has been directed by the court to monitor in morning and evening car washing activities on the banks of Dal and in case anybody is found washing his car on Dal banks action be taken against him. The traffic department has also been directed to furnish
a list of car workshops that exist on the banks of Dal Lake.
According to advocate general, the agencies concerned with cleaning of Dal Lake, take out a ton of garbage including one and half truckload of polythene from Dal lake on daily basis. “Since the law is already there but the honourable court is concerned about its effective
implementation in the state,” Qadri told Kashmir Times. Pertinently, the government has already filed the compliance report of the orders passed by court till 2009. “Now the court wants us to update it about measures taken 2009 afterwards,” Qadri added.
Interestingly, the Central Government has so far sanctioned Rs 86.18 crores in first phase and Rs 256 crores in second phase for conservation and development of Dal Lake.
In 2002, the High Court had issued some directives on the cleaning of Dal Lake. A division bench of High Court, comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice Muzaffar Jan, had directed the state government to take specific measures to give a new lease of life to Dal Lake.
The court had banned all construction in the vicinity of the lakes. Washing of vehicles was also prohibited in and around the lakes. The Srinagar Municipality and other developmental authorities were directed by the court to take steps to prevent the use of polythene in
and around the lakes. In addition to this, the bench had ordered the state pollution control board (PCB) to monitor the functioning of small industrial units around the lake -- particularly their waste disposal methods.