The Chairman of the Haflong Town Committee has issued an order banning sale and use of polythene bags, plastic water or tea glasses and thermocol.
Through the prohibitory order, all the businessmen, shopkeepers including vegetable vendors have been prohibited from selling and using these items as these cause pollution, drain blockade, health hazard.
The order further states that penalty of non-compliance will amount to Rs 5000.
The Haflong Town Committee in Dima Hasao district has also requested the public in general to co-operate with them to make Haflong a polythene-free town and as this is for larger interest of the public.
It may be mentioned that concerned about the hazardous impact of polythene on environment, Assam government in February 2017 said that it was considering banning polythene in Guwahati as its top priority.
This was told to the Assembly by then Guwahati Development Department (GDD) Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in reply to a question during a discussion in the Zero Hour in the State Assembly.
“For any reason, if we cannot ban polythene, then we will try to levy an environmental tax on it. But our first priority is to ban it,” then GDD Minister Sarma had said.
He also informed that the Assam government had banned polythene around six (now seven) years ago, but it could not sustain it in the High Court and it was stayed.