Shutters down in Bhopal: 13 industries making plastic goods closed

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) is acting tough against the industries involved in manufacturing of banned items made from Single Use Plastic (SUP). It had earlier identified 29 small scale industries in the state, which were manufacturing goods made from SUP. They were issued notices, asking either to manufacture other items made from permissible material or close the factory. A senior MPPCB official told Free Press that out of the 29 industries, 16 industries decided to manufacture other products made from permissible material. However, owners of 13 industries closed their units as they were unable to manufacture other products.

“Switching over to manufacturing other products needs lot of investment. Owners of 13 industries were not financially sound. Hence, they decided to close their units by informing MPPCB. Now, officially no industry is producing the items made from the single use plastic in the state,” he said. He added that owners of 13 industrial units were running in losses following bandh due to Covid pandemic.

After getting the notice, they decided to shut down as they could not afford huge investment needed to switch over to manufacture other items. However, the possibility of people making SUP items deceitfully cannot be ruled out, sources said.