Plastic menace continues in Lalbagh despite ban

Plastic menace continues in Lalbagh despite ban

Soumya Saxena

The garden was declared a plastic-free zone in April 2007 by KSPCB

BANGALORE: Lalbagh, one of the biggest lung spaces in the city, was declared a plastic-free zone in April 2007 by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) with the promise to rid the precious lung space of the plastic menace.

Nine months on, authorities are still struggling to cope with the menace and the designated zone is yet to follow the declaration in letter and spirit, even as one can find plastic debris strewn around the park recklessly.

“Security guards have been deployed at all the four entrances to prevent visitors from bringing in plastic materials. Cooperation of the public is of utmost importance. We are trying to create awareness among them by organising plays and dramas with the help of volunteer groups, which can prompt them to use eco-friendly materials,” M. Jagdeesh, Deputy Director, Horticulture Department, told The Hindu.
Visitors

While the garden receives around 60,000 visitors every week, it is learnt that the department distributes around 3,000 paper bags to prevent the visitors from carrying their polythene bags.

“Nearly 80 per cent of the visitors keep their belongings in their vehicles and for the rest we provide the paper bags,” he added.

In their effort to create awareness against the use of plastic, the authorities have erected huge hoardings at the entrance of Lalbagh. Besides, the entry tickets also carry a message that prohibits use of plastics within the botanical garden.
Unaware

Despite the department’s effort to create awareness about the plastic-free zone, many vendors are not even aware of it.

Several shops inside Lalbagh continue to sell mineral water in plastic bottles and snacks in plastic sachets.

Even many visitors to whom this reporter spoke to were not aware of the KSPCB directives.

Responding to this, Dr. Jagdeesh said: “Water is a necessity and therefore this has been made an exception.” The department was trying to strengthen the facility by providing enough paper bags to the visitors, on exceptionally crowded days to avoid any sort of nuisance, Dr. Jagdeesh added.

“Most visitors are unaware of the prohibition. Neither are the guards active enough to caution the people or fine them. This suggests that the implementation is tardy as visitors can be seen bringing in plastic bags freely,” said Jude, a software engineer, who was visiting Lalbagh.

While the KSPCB supplied these paper bags initially, it has now asked the Horticulture Department to purchase the paper bags following which the department created a revolving fund under the Bangalore Garden Trust that helps finance the purchase of the paper bags at reasonable rates.