Dear All, The commissioner of Panjim Corporation followed by his counterpart in Vasco have finally launched a battle on plastic.The Gag the Bag initiative has been started to encourage the average Goan city dweller to take responsibility for the waste generated.The initiative -has apparently rattled the plastic mafia who have responded with misleading advertisements and planted stories in the press about impending job losses if the ban was enforced. Their advertorials were more on the lines of the national rifle association (USA) Guns don't kill, people do!! So it was not plastics to be blamed for the garbage problem and the choking of the monsoon drains but peoples civic sense and lack of proper waste management problems. As if that was not enough the local dailies gave prominent coverage to the fact that 2,400 jobs would be lost if the ban was implemented. Mr Kamat of the Goa Small scale industries association seems to have taken a page from the global tobacco industry tactics of the 60's and 70's.That may explain the packages of plastic bags distributed free to all the vendors and shopkeepers at the panjim market.Sanjith with his typically hands on approach manned the CCP stall at the Plastic alternative stall held last week explaining to the visitors the bomb they carried in their shopping bag. Now MMC comissioner Elvis Gomes has taken steps to address another ticking bomb -that of medical waste. It is a disgrace but the medical profession has not come forward to sort out the mess. With the politicians keeping a studied silence on the issue we hope the administrators efforts will not come to naught and the menance does not take on the hopelesseness of the River Princess.
Pascal Pinto
