A senior state pollution control board scientist echoed Sarkar. “The
plastic is getting us really choked and such days are not far away when
life will come to a standstill because of our callous habit of littering
plastic. Unfortunately, there has been no campaign against
plastic-littering.”

A TOI survey revealed that plastic littering
is all pervasive. No road, no ground and no waterbody – including Lal
Dighi in front of Writers’ Buildings, perhaps the most well-kept
waterbody of the city, and those at Victoria Memorial – has been able to
escape the menace.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation
(KMC) is only enforcing a ban on the use of plastic bags below 40
microns in thickness. “But who will prevent plastic tea-cups, gutka or
shampoo sachets which are worse polluters? They easily slip through
manholes or the concrete filters of the underground drainage system.
These elements are no less chokers for drainage pumping sets,” said a Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority officer.

Interestingly, however, the Supreme Court has banned the packaging of
gutka in plastic sachets. Following the Supreme Court order, the
environment ministry had also banned the packaging of gutka products in
sachets (Rule 5 of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules,
2011, prohibits the use of plastic materials in sachets for storing,
packaging or selling gutka, tobacco and pan masala). But the plastic
sachets containing tobacco are everywhere in the city and there is no
compliance of the central rule.

State environment secretary RPS
Kahlon said: “We do not have any legal provision against plastic
littering. But eventually, we have to enact a law so that an offender
does not get away by throwing plastic bags and sachets. Spot-fines could
be introduced to penalize offenders.” He admitted that littering is
worrisome in the state as it is in other parts of the country. Kahlon
said that PCB is suffering from a severe man-power shortage. It is a
matter to be handled by municipal bodies, he added.

“I found the
mere ban on plastic bags below 40 micron thickness is somewhat
untenable. Who will measure whether a particular bag is below 40 micron
or not? The city has become a paradise for littering plastic wastes.
There is no dearth of rules in our country. Only its effective
enforcement can inculcates a habit of proper disposal of plastic waste.
Littering is an offence in most of the developed countries, where
penalty comes in the form of hefty fines or sustained community services
or both by state statutes or city ordinances,” said environment
activist Subhas Datta.

In India, Meghalaya is stringent against
littering. The Goa government is becoming an exception by making
littering of plastic at roadsides and beaches a cognizable offence.
Chief minister Manohar Parrikar
himself announced it. Parrikar told the legislative assembly that the
government is mulling to make plastic littering a cognizable offence by
December this year and to punish the offender with a severe penalty.

As early as in August, 2002, the government prohibited carrying, use
and sale of non-biodegradable PET bottles and plastic carry bags in
certain coastal regulation zones in Panaji and neighboring Caranzalem
and Dona Paula, while for other beach areas in Goa, the matter would be
taken up in consultation with all stakeholders.

Even Indian Plastic Federation
officials want stringent enforcement against littering. “Plastic is so
popular because of its utilitarian value. If it is disposed of properly,
plastic will continue to do good for mankind. But because of its
low-cost existence in our life we tend to throw them away, without
understanding its consequences. If this continues, the authority will be
forced to ban plastic which will turn a huge workforce jobless,” said
an IPF official. In fact, the Supreme Court threatened to enforce a
complete ban on the use of plastic in the interests of animals and the
environment.