Ban on SUP has come into force : Need to show seriousness
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 16, 2025 -

Ban on single use plastic (SUP) to come into force from April 15, 2025, but till late into the evening no credible information was received on whether any crackdown or drive against SUP has been taken up or not.

It was on April 6 that the Principal Secretary of Environment and Climate Change announced that a ban on SUP would come into force from April 15 and monetary penalty would be imposed on violators, ranging from Rs 200 for first time offender, Rs 500 for second time offender and Rs 1000 for third time offender.

For stockists and suppliers the penalty for first time offender was pegged at Rs 2000 each, Rs 5000 each for second time offender and Rs 10,000 for third time offender.

Repeated violators will have their license cancelled.

This is the line that was maintained by the said official and if one may add, the fines are hefty and this should ideally serve as the right starting point for the ban on SUP to come into force.

The Sangai Express had taken due note of the announcement and questioned whether the ban this time will work or not for this is not the first time that Manipur will see a drive against SUP.

The reality says that SUP continues to take a heavy toll on the environment despite the numerous bans announced earlier and one wonders whether the Government this time wants to make a difference or will just be satisfied with walking down the same trodden path.

The ban has come into effect, but no overt drive against SUP was seen anywhere at Imphal, with just a late report coming in from the Manipur Pollution Control Board that a drive was conducted at Alu Galli today.

No wide publicity was lined up during the drive and reports coming in at the office of The Sangai Express say that only Doordarshan was contacted to give the drive the needed publicity.

One wonders how many in Manipur or Imphal actually tune in to Doordarshan these days.

That wisdom is best left to the authority concerned, but one hopes more widespread publicity is given in the next round of drive.

The Government will need to demonstrate that it means business while going about with the task of enforcing the ban on SUP.

It will need more than drives and monetarily penalising the defaulters.

For starters, the State Government may think of seriously mounting a concerted pressure on the Centre to put a complete ban on the manufacture, sale and distribution of SUP.

More focus should also be given to the SUPs, particularly the plastic carry bags that are brought in from across the border via Moreh.

Not an easy task it will be and the Principal Secretary of Environment and Climate Change was on target in urging the people to abide by the directive of the State Government.

Yet at the same time, it also stands that the Government needs to do much more than just announcing bans and penalising the defaulters.

It would help if the Government can chip in and promote some alternatives to the people, the generation of people who don’t know that there was a time when paper bags or chekhaos were used while buying grocery items starting from the loose salt, sugar, dal, potatoes etc.

Or that carrying a shopping bag was mandatory while going to the market. A practise which is no longer in vogue.

Another measure which the Government should seriously study is to make the price of a plastic carry bag costly.

Fix the price of a plastic carry bag above Rs 20 and let the shopper bear the cost of the bag.

This will surely discourage many from going in for the plastic carry bag and many will opt to come with their own shopping bag.

The call for an alternative is important and the Government should seriously study what options it may champion for the people to go in for.

The steps to lessen the use of plastic carry bag or single use plastic will involve many steps.

First is to fix hefty fines on violators, second is to champion the alternatives, third is to make the plastic carry bags costly so that it deters many from going in for it and also impose heavy fines for littering.

And most importantly let the Government demonstrate that it is serious about banning single use plastic or plastic carry bags.