NAINITAL: Uttarakhand high court, on Monday, instructed the state government to prepare a model SOP regarding the plastic waste management (PWM) and also sought a report from local bodies on how much penalty has been imposed on violators till now.
A divisional bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe ordered the government after hearing a PIL filed on disposal of single use plastic management and a complete ban on plastic waste in Uttarakhand.
HC made the state level monitoring committee, headed by secretary forest, a party in the matter. They have been held responsible for compliance of these directions. The committee will be responsible for the further compliance and will hold a meeting with all the district officials to find a solution for the disposal of waste.
Divisional forest officers are ordered to make maps of the forest panchayats of their respective areas and upload the same on the digital platform. Besides, orders to develop a complaint lodging app are also given and the forest secretary is directed to take appropriate steps to provide adequate mechanism and machinery to the sarpanch of van panchayat.
During the hearing the pollution control board argued that few authorities did not follow the rules. On that HC directed the PCB to impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh per month on such officials for environmental damage. The case will next be heard on 19 October.
Notably, one Jitendra Yadav, a resident of Almora, filed the PIL stating that the state government has made rules for plastic use and its disposal in 2013 which are not being followed. In 2018, the Union government made PWM rules, in which the producers, transporters and sellers are given the responsibility to take back the empty plastic and if they fail to do so, the concerned civic body will take care of it.
