Not impressed: Senator flays ban on plastic bags

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour has opposed the government’s decision to slap a ban on plastic shopping bags. The Upper House member, who is also an industrialist, said the government has attempted to cover up for its own failures by creating hurdles for small businessmen and traders. Speaking to a group of industrialists at the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Bilour said the government should in fact take to task those environment department officials who are responsible for not being able to manage the issue and aggravating it. “The ban will only further unemployment and add to the hardships of the people,” said Bilour. He added recently a Chinese firm, in partnership with a local company, offered the government to generate 200 megawatts of electricity from the city’s waste. “They rejected the offer sadly,” he said. The senator said the ban will affect at least half a million families associated with the trade. He urged the government to review the decision and instead set up plants to recycle the waste.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2015.