In Jammu and Kashmir the pollution caused by littering of polythene is becoming into a huge environmental disaster. Everywhere heaps and mounds of garbage, with bulk being of polythene waste, is a common sight. Government’s ban on the use of polythene has remained limited to announcements only and it has never gone beyond that. Tons of polythene bags are sold in the markets in every nook and corner of the UT and government and its agencies are just mute witnesses to all this.
The large-scale use of this inorganic matter has had its ill-effects on water and soil with cultivable land turning into unproductive barren expanses. Rice fields and orchards are experiencing the obnoxious effects of polythene in the rural areas as most of the fungicides, pesticides and insecticides are packed in bags made of this monstrous material which is left unattended there and with the passage of time it seeps beneath the productive layer of the earth and starts oozing its foul effects. Though officially polythene is banned here but the ban is confined to the official records of the concerned government agencies alone. In this backdrop, people have to take in the responsibility in their own hands.
People should learn some lessons from the neighbouring UT of Ladak where locals, not looking towards the government, themselves took the initiative of boycotting use of polythene years back when the area was part of erstwhile state of J&K. It’s time that people start realizing the problems that polythene is creating and is going to create for them. They have to say good-bye to the use of polythene by boycotting it. Otherwise it will leave them in ruins. The gravity of the problem can be gauged by the fact that even in small towns in the countryside tons of polythene bags are sold everyday. Now one can only imagine how much of this toxic substance is thus being pumped into Kashmir’s hill and dale, water-bodies as well as into the bodies of domestic cattle. And given the fact that polythene is non-biodegradable matter, one should not be hard at calculating how much pollution it might be causing here in this Valley. If the consumption remains the same for a few more years what will be the environmental scenario?