complete ban of plastic bags in haryana

December 24 - Haryana Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Mrs Kiran Choudhry today directed the officers of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) to prepare a list of all plastic bag manufacturers of the state and take steps to completely ban the use of plastic bags in the State.
Mrs Choudhry was presiding over the seventh meeting of the Board here today..
It was informed in the meeting that the Board had given notices to 159 Aravalli Hills defaulters and five prosecution cases have been filed against the defaulters so far.
She directed the officials to take strict actions against the defaulters. She had been touring the Aravalli Hills area and had found out that violations were being made despite the strict guidelines of the Supreme Court of India. All defaulters would be punished severely and such activities would be stopped completely.
The Minister urged the Regional Officers of the Board to deal with the pollution problem with strictness and sincerity as pollution free environment is the need of the hour. She directed all the regional officers to appoint environment wardens in each ward in order to keep a check on the use of plastic bags and products. She asked them to spread awareness through rallies and to conduct various wakeful activities pertaining to environment in the State. She also asked the officers to submit a detailed report of the various activities which included awareness campaigns, functioning of the Eco Clubs in accordance to the calendar of events issued by the Board.
Mrs Choudhry said that Head office of the Board would issue no-objection-certificates (NOC) on pollution angle to units having an investment of over Rs 5 crore. These units included hot mix plant, stone crushers, construction projects which had a discharge of 10 KLD or more, units covered under Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. Units which had an investment of less than Rs 5 crore would be issued NOC on pollution angle by the District Level Clearance Committee (DLCC) headed by the respective Deputy Commissioners as per the Haryana Industrial Promotion Rules 2007. The Units included brick kilns and other plants machineries.
She directed the Board to prosecute the environment violators under the law, failing which the concerned official would be penalized for negligence. She stressed that Bio-medical waste should be disposed off with utmost care and ensure that various medical institutions were adhering to the disposal rules and regulations in the State.
The Minister directed the Board to formulate a proper NOC procedure and make it available online, she said that each stage should be properly explained in order to maintain transparency. She also asked the officers to amend the notification on the functioning of the stone crushers of the state to clearly list the norms and criteria for closure and functioning of the Stone Crushers.
She asked ROs to expedite the awareness campaigns in their districts through young children and disseminate more finances to the ECO clubs. She said that it was very important to sensitize the children on the various environmental issues as they were the future guardians of the Environment.

Illegal Mining in Aravalis and Polybags

September 19 – Haryana Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Mrs. Kiran Choudhry today directed the Regional Officers of Haryana Pollution Control Board (HPCB) to constitute a committee to keep strict check on illegal mining at Aravalli range and to submit a video graphed report within 30 days to the Board. Mrs. Choudhry while presiding over a meeting asked the officers of the HPCB to take strict actions against those who were involved in illegal mining and regular reports of violations and prosecutions should be submitted to the Board.The Minister said that mining at Aravalli range is a serious threat to the environment and the violations should be dealt with strictness. She said that the Regional Officers of HPCB should properly take up the cases of violations and prosecutions should be launched immediately against the violators. She said that it was learnt that in some districts, farm land were being utilized for purposes other than agriculture which is a violation according to the Aravalli notification. She said that it had been directed to all the Deputy Commissioners in the state to abide by the Performa prepared by the HPCB for any land use. She directed the officers to write the concerned departments to complete the work of Sewerage Treatment Plant at Panipat in a time bound manner. The Minister said that regular samples should be collected from the cess pools and should be sent to district authorities regularly. She said that an inventory should be prepared of the industries which were functional without Treatment Plants in district Panipat. The Minister said that all the information regarding the prosecution and directions should be made available on the website of the HPCB. She said that the crushers functional at Gurgaon should be closed immediately and prompt actions should be launched against them. Mrs. Choudhry directed the officers to regularly visit Eco-Clubs and hold activities in accordance with the calendar issued by the HPCB. She said that Eco-Clubs are the arms of pollution wing and to enhance their working, more financial assistance would be provided to them. She said that a State Level function would be organized in the first week of November wherein all the Eco-Clubs functioning in the state would participate. She directed all the Regional Officers to organise regular competitions and functions at their respective districts for the members of the Eco-Clubs. The Minister said that hoardings carrying warnings, on the ban of usage and manufacturing of plastic products below 30 microns should be put across the districts and on the major road sides. She asked the officers to prepare a list of plastic manufacturers and submit it to the headquarters within a week. She directed the Board officers to start penalising the manufacturers of plastic products and spread awareness regarding the usage of plastic, through weekly advertisements in the newspapers. She said that people should be made aware that the State has put a ban on the usage of plastic which do not adhere to the norms specified by the Board.