Noney district of Manipur to declare as plastic free zone, to fine Rs 25K against burning of plastic

Imphal: District Administration of Manipur’s Noney will soon issue notification to all the government offices and private institutions under Noney district to declare as plastic free zone, which is a part of the state wide programme to banned the single used plastics under the Manipur Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016.

Noney deputy commissioner Dr. Sharart Chandra Arroju, said this during the 1st phase consultative workshop at district Level on “Elimination of Single Used Plastics” ( SUP’s) held at the Noney district head quarter.

The event was jointly organised by the district administration and Directorate of Environment and Climate Change.

Sharart Chandra Arroju informed the district officers that the awareness drive regarding the banned on single used plastics in regards to Longmai areas will start soon.

The awareness drive in respect of Longmai areas will be conducted jointly by the police department, Longmai SDO and PHED Longmai, he added.

To effectively implement the banned of SUP’s, a district nodal officer and a district level task force for Noney will also be set up soon after consultation with the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, he said.

Programme officer, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Dr Habibula Khan informed that since March 28, 2016, any kind of plastic or polythene which are less than 120 micron are banned however, not a single district are effectively implementing the said order till today. The said order is supposed to be implemented in the hills district through the respective ADC’s, he said.

From April 15, the said order will be enforced strictly in the state, he added. “An amount of Rs 25,000 will be fined in case of open burning of plastic, cautioned the programme officer.”

The consultative workshop was attended by programme officer, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Gainaimei Kamei, officers of line department under Noney district and staffs of Noney DC.

A DLO’s meeting in regards to the proposed visit of Union MoS , MoHUA Tokhan Sahu on April 16-17 was also conducted after the workshop.