In a decision aimed at safeguarding human health and the environment, the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government has officially prohibited the use, sale, manufacture, and transportation of plastic bottles within the region.
This landmark move comes after a high-level meeting on Thursday presided over by the GB Chief Secretary and attended by prominent officials including the Inspector General and Home Secretary.
The decision is rooted in the recognized detrimental impacts of plastic bottles on human well-being and the delicate ecological balance.
Under the mandate of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), an order has been issued to prohibit the import of plastic bottles into GB from other areas, starting 1 September 2023.
To ensure the implementation of this ban, directives have been disseminated to all governmental bodies, affiliated departments, subordinate offices, autonomous entities, and semi-governmental organizations.
The goal is to discourage the presence of plastic bottles in official spaces such as offices, meetings, seminars, and workshops.
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This is a good step but if implemented strictly. As the banned plastic shopping bags are still using everywhere. And where plastic shopping bags are not available, shops or companies are charging additional price for these bags. A new business has maintained to collect money for the bags now. Likewise if the same is going to happen to bring one more trend to loot public, it would be a shame.
very good decision to preserve the beauty of G&B.
It would be wiser to buy-back plastic bottles from public. This will not only help control the number of bottles, but will also save cost of producing new bottles to the company, the user ( in the form of credit points encashable on next shopping) as well as precious dollars required to import the raw material. This is the model followed in the entire developed world.
Very good decision by the GB government.in future they are required to ban all types of polithin basg.
Please, hotel and restaurant sewage should not be discharged into Kunhar river.
What is the substitute of those plastic bottles? Glass bottles or something else? Did the Chief Secretary tell something about it? I am sure NOT.
When the plastic bags are banned, what alternative is used by the people?
Plastic bags are used the world over as do the plastic bottles, even in the highly developed Western countries. The difference is:-
(1) The plastic used in bags and bottles is biodegradable.
(2) The collection and disposal of such plastic stuff is separate from the other stuff in the garbage.
Banning plastic bottles and bags in Pakistan is like banning all types of vehicles because they cause massive pollution. Can the government ban all vehicles?
The amount of pollution caused by vehicles in Pakistan is many times more than what plastic causes.
It is easy to ban something. It is difficult to introduce alternatives. This is what our authorities do. We make the rules, which are not implementable. The result:- Violation of those rules + corruption.
Implement kon karega?
Very good decision by GB government.
This is a good step for future of Gilgit Baltistan.And also requested the head of department to quickly and strictly implement for this important issues.