To be placed before the Cabinet next week, the draft Delhi Plastic Bill - if implemented - will unleash an official campaign to ban the use of polybags in the city. This may affect about 10,000 manufacturers employing 1 lakh people in the city, as a blanket ban is sought on the use of recycled polybags for carrying food items.

``The pigments used for making polybags have carcinogenic chemicals... directly threatening the health of the people,'' the draft states.

Also, ``the bags get into the pipes and choke the drainage leading to water stagnation and breeding of mosquitoes leading to diseases''. Environment Minister A K Walia gives two more reasons for a total ban: ``Ragppickers store the bags in their huts in slums creating a fire hazard, which was manifested recently in Yamuna Pushta. Also, whencattle feed on garbage in polybags, it chokes them to death.''

However, polybags made out of fresh plastic with certain specifications by an authorised licencee can be used as containers for items other than food stuff.

Walia believes that the bill will be a success on two counts. One, the stringent specifications for getting a licence to manufacture polybags and, two, the heavy penalties for offenders. If a recycled polybag, not meeting the specifications, is found being used to carry foodstuff the manufacturer and the person using the bag would face prosecution and imprisonment from six months to three years and a fine up to Rs 25,000. The penalty would be doubled for second-time offenders.

If anyone is found throwing a polybag in garbage, he/she would face prosecution and imprisonment of a month or a fine of Rs 5,000 or both. For starters, there are compounding penalties before cases go to court. In case of using recycled polybags for food stuffs, the compounding fee ranges from Rs 1,000 to 4,000 formanufacturers and users. In case of people throwing polybags in the garbage, the compounding fee ranges between Rs 500 to 1,000. The thicker the polybag, the costlier it is, and therefore, more financially unviable for small businesses. Polybags of 10 microns thickness currently cost 30 p. If the thickness is raised to 45 microns, these could cost Rs 1 or more, making it out of reach of common vendors.

``I had asked the officials to include the thickness of polybags as a criterion for getting a licence for manufacturing them. This should not only make manufacturing of polybags an expensive business but also cut down on the number of people going into the business,'' he said.

According to the draft bill, a manufacturer would have to adhere to the following norms: No recycled plastic, no dyes or pigments, minimum thickness - 45 microns, polybag should carry a seal of approval by the government and a label with the name and address of the manufacturer.y