Wahab seeks people’s support to make anti-plastic drive successful

Barrister Murtaza Wahab said on Sunday that the Sindh government needs the support and assistance of the people so that the authorities can effectively implement their recently imposed ban on the use of polythene bags across the province.

In a statement issued in connection with World Habitat Day being observed around the globe on Monday (today), the chief minister’s adviser on environment said the people of the province should voluntarily stop using polythene bags for protecting the environment.

Wahab said that a little effort on the part of the people can help them adopt bags made of cloth, paper or biodegradable plastic for their shopping needs. He also appealed to the business community and shopkeepers to wholeheartedly accept the ban on polythene bags across the province, as well as convince their customers to stop using harmful plastic bags for shopping.

He said that everyone needs to come together to play their respective roles in the shunning of the practices that cause damage to the environment. The adviser said World Habitat Day is observed on the first Monday of every October to spread awareness about making the world’s cities and villages sustainable, as they are the dwelling places of human beings. The theme chose for this year’s World Habitat Day is ‘Frontier technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth’.

Wahab also appealed to factory owners to avoid those industrial practices that prove harmful for the environment. He said the industrial units that make materials and chemicals from used batteries and old tyres particularly cause a lot of damage to the environment.

He also said the inspection teams of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency will be forced to take punitive action against the units involved in unauthorised industrial activities. The adviser said industries should comply with the relevant provincial laws to safeguard the environment and to secure the future of the future generations so that they can get the best conditions possible for living.