Usage of Jute bag mandatory for 11 more items
The government has made the use of jute bags mandatory for carrying and preserving 11 more items.
The Textiles and Jute Ministry issued a notification on Saturday in this regard, said ministry sources.
The goods are chili, turmeric, onion, ginger, pulse, coriander, potato, flour, atta and paddy husk.
The government made the jute bag use compulsory for the new items through an amendment to the Jute Packaging Act, 2013.
With this, the use of jute bags has been made compulsory for 17 items.
Earlier on June 3, 2013, the government issued a notification making the jute bag use mandatory for carrying and preserving six items -- rice, paddy, wheat, maize, fertiliser and sugar.
Our correspondent adds: The government enacted the Mandatory Jute PackagingAct in October 2010, to promote environment friendly, biodegradable jute bags todiscourage the use of polythene bags,which is non biodegradable and harmful toenvironment.
It is also the source of clogged drains in the cities and towns and harmful to fish and other aquatic animals and soils.
Despite enacting a mandatory law in 2010 on the use of jute bags for packaging foodstuffs, agricultural products and in kitchen markets, the concerned authority is yet to implement the law allegedly under pressure of certain business groups.
Even the authority concerned has failedto take any initiative so far to producesmall jute shopping bags from jute for thekitchen markets, supermarkets to groceries and corner shops.
The Ministry of Textiles and Jute in 2014issued a circular reminding that it is mandatory for the private rice mill owners to use 100 per cent jute bags for packaging under the Jute Packaging Law.
As per the circular, owner of rice mills, fertilizer factories and sugar mills were directed to package their products likerice, wheat, maze, sugar, seeds, fertilisers, and saplings in jute bags, instead of polythene or polypropylene bags as mandated by the law.
