Daily Times

Good and bad things can go together. This is what proves the new proposed legislation by the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) that is titled as “Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency [Pak-EPA] Ban on (Manufacturing, Import, Sale, Purchase, Storage and Usage) Polythene Bags Regulations, 2019”.

The good part of the proposed legislation, as described in its Section-3, is that the MoCC aspires to completely ban the plastic shopping bags that are thin, not bio-degradable, and used one time only from a market to a user’s home. This would be done initially only in Islamabad because once the national environmental watchdog Pak-EPA has been limited to only federal capital Islamabad after the 18th Amendment in the country’s constitution.

The proposed legislation, if approved by the Ministry of Law and Justice followed by the approval of the federal cabinet, would ban the manufacturing, import, sale, purchase, storage and usage of the plastic [shopping] bags in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) on June 5, 2019 – the World Environment Day with the cut-off date of August 14, 2019 – the date after which the strict action would be taken against the manufacturing, import, sale, purchase, storage and usage of the plastic bags.

Interestingly, there is only one manufacturer of plastic [shopping] bags in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) who has already consented voluntarily to discontinue the production of plastic bags. It is optimistically presumed that after the new legislation at least the federal capital will be free of the menace of plastic bags. It depends on the implementation sincerity of the Pak-EPA that has totally failed to comply with its mandate of environmental monitoring and pollution control.

Have a look on the Pak-EPA performance that would be steering the proposed legislation. About 350 fresh water streams have been choked by the municipal waste draining out of the damaged pipes or by the industrial waste. The three parts of Margalla Hills National Park have been flooded with the constructions of buildings, restaurants, diesel-operated recreational and entertainment, motor-boats in the lake, blockade of water catchment areas by the private housing societies, unchecked sewage drainage of these housing societies into water streams, Rawal Lake and Simly Dam, smoke-emitting vehicles, water wastage and over consumption by the elite, shortage and contaminated water for the poor and marginalised sectors, and so on. The impact of failure of Pak-EPA is even worst and heavier on the national exchequer and on the individuals.

The consumption of about 55 billion plastic shopping bags a year makes Pakistan extremely vulnerable to environmental, water and sanitation, and health hazards. The federal capital is no exception to this menace

The adverse part of the proposed legislation is the Section-4 that states: “Authorization to manufacture or import flat Polythene bags. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub regulation (2) and (3) of regulation 3, the Agency may allow the manufacture, import or use of Polythene flat bags subject to terms & conditions specified by the Agency, for following purposes: (i) Industrial packing (ii) Primary industrial packing (iii) Municipal waste (iv) Hospital waste (v) Hazardous waste.

The experts are of the view that flat plastic bags are being produced already in other cities of the country while some types of bags are being imported too which are sufficient for the domestic needs as mentioned in the Section-4 of the proposed legislation.

Then, what are the nefarious objectives and despicable vested interest in pursuing the proposed legislation in haste. The MoCC has no justifiable answer to why it was sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice for their approval ten days before the multi-stakeholder consultation that was chaired by Malik Amin Aslam, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change, on Thursday May 23, 2019.

Not mentioned in the proposed legislation but on the cards is also to authorise the manufacturing, import and sale of the flat plastic bags for general consumption. This is what would prove to be disastrous and hypocritical of the proposed legislation to ban the plastic [shopping] bags. Another laughing stock is that the manufacturing and import of the flat plastic bags, another hazardous menace, would be steered and controlled by the Pak-EPA whereas it is the mandate of Ministry of Industries and Production. What a joke that Pak-EPA that has totally failed to steer its actual mandate, ‘environmental monitoring and pollution control’, would steer the mandate of some other ministry.

Pak-EPA would collect the penalties on irregularities of the plastic industry and give exemptions as proposed in the legislation that is usually done by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). And, we all know the ‘value and importance’ of the SROs issued by the FBR and why. Most of them are certainly meant to benefit the blue-eyed boys. Now, Pak-EPA wants to enjoy the same ‘privilege’ for the plastic bags industry in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Before giving any green signal to the MoCC, the Ministry of Law and Justice needs to look deep into the hypocritical nature of the proposed legislation that smells nefarious objectives of the Pak-EPA and uncalled for authority for them too. The law ministry’s nod would certainly impose ban on an evil while help generate a bigger menace. The careless nod would kick off the beginning of another environmental unfriendly regime in Pakistan. Islamabad Capital Territory is the test ground for the pilot legislation while its impact would engulf the entire country when the precedent would be taken to the provinces.

The legislature and the judiciary shall also take up probe into the vested interest of the hypocritical nature of the proposed legislation. After eliminating uncalled for portion, the rest of the regulations may be approved to adopt by the Pak-EPA. The parliamentarians across the party shall immediately take up pure and pro-environmental policies at the provincial level to wipe off the plastic bags.

The consumption of about 55 billion plastic shopping bags a year makes Pakistan extremely vulnerable to environmental, water and sanitation, and health hazards. The federal capital is no exception to this menace. Being one of the high consumption cities, the plastic pollution has become a big threat to the clean and green nature of the capital city that has already been compromised by the urban migration.

The environmental challenge is a grave concern for the 1.3 million habitants of Islamabad. They all speak about their concerns which are contrary to their actions. Notwithstanding, they shamelessly pollute their own habitat without any hesitation because they have no fear of checking and monitoring by the federal environmental watchdog – Pak-EPA. The question is if the new regulations would improve the state of affairs in the federal capital and pave a path for the provincial initiatives of the same sort or it would be destined to the dark shelves in the old racks.

The writer is the Director Devcom-Pakistan, an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach consulting