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A NUMBER of reports and letters have been published to alert the authorities concerned about indiscriminate use of thin polybags. Still polythene bags are being produced and marketed as usual. This environment-destroying product is grabbing the market due to lack of supervision by the authorities concerned. People nowadays do not have the same feeling as they had before regarding the harmful effect of polythene bags on the environment. To all appearances, the social movement once initiated in favour of rejecting polybags is no more fashionable. But again this hazardous bag has become the main carrier of all kinds of goods. The shop owners are rampantly using these bags and shoppers are also accepting those. Many alternatives, which came to the market after the ban, failed to gain popularity. But the authorities concerned remained silent in stopping its use since the beginning. As a result, we have found that bags made with nylon net and cellophane do not decompose in the soil and cannot be recycled. The longevity of net bags is even higher than that of polybags, which were earlier in use.
So the government's main motive to improve the drainage system remains unfulfilled. Although it was thought that after the ban of polythene, the drainage system would be improved significantly, but nothing of this sort happened. After all these days, the problem of water logging continues as before. We believe that all this happens due to lack of mechanism in the public offices to continue any new activity. Not a single instance can be found so much so that any successful initiative taken in the past by the government is still in force. And this lack of efficiency in the public offices is demonstrated again through the return of polybag in the market.
K Zaman
DOHS, Mohakhali
Dhaka
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