The Ministry of Climate Change has decided that the usage of plastic bags in the city would be strictly prohibited.
Plastic bag users will be punished Rs5,000, while shops and manufacturers will be fined Rs10,000. Those who continue to reuse plastic bags will face a punishment of Rs20,000. The baggage will also be seized.
The government has launched a campaign to raise awareness against the use of plastic bags.
The difficulty, according to Ajmal Baloch, head of All Pakistan Anjuman Tajran, is that while Islamabad has outlawed plastic bags, Rawalpindi has not. Rawalpindi occasionally sends us plastic bags.
As part of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Clean Green Pakistan policy, plastic bags have been banned throughout the federal capital beginning August 14, 2019. Manufacturing, selling, and distributing plastic bags is prohibited in the city.