Kolkata: In a bid to save the city from pollution, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has asked the state Pollution Control Board (PCB) to take measures against factories and markets that are manufacturing and selling plastic below 50 microns.
Addressing a press conference, Mayor of KMC, Firhad Hakim said that the civic body has already asked the PCB to crackdown on factories manufacturing plastic below 50 microns. He informed that recently a team of PCB officials along with police had cracked down on certain factories manufacturing such plastic and the CESC has even shut down power to such manufacturing facilities.
Further, Hakim said that most of such plastics are now coming in from Nepal and then being circulated by some markets in Burrabazar. He said markets such as Bagri market is one such where plastic below 50 microns are still being sold. “There needs to be a raid to seize the stocks. We will speak with the police to conduct drives in city markets. In KMC markets, we frequently conduct such inspection drives. The aim is to cut down the supply of the plastics which come into the state in trucks from Nepal,” Hakim said. Recently, ahead of the Puja, the city streets have become covered in plastics. A walk inside the New Market would reveal plastic strewn on the streets, covering roadside drains. It has increased with the deluge of hawkers flooding the city streets for pre-Puja sales. Citizens have expressed fear that the next bout of rainfall may again cause severe waterlogging unless action is taken by the civic body.
However, KMC sources said it is near impossible to evict hawkers who have now not just captured the entire footpath leading to KMC headquarters in the New Market area but have now also begun trading on the road side, leaving little space for pedestrians to walk. Commenting on the water logging situation, Hakim said KMC’s drainage pumping stations are on standby in case of heavy rainfall.