Plastic pouches ring bell for man-made disaster

BHUBANESWAR: Sometimes, a man-made disaster can mock you in your face after a natural calamity. The devastating flood which has left a trail of destruction in 19 districts may have brought with it a huge environmental burden for the coastal districts in terms of use of plastic water pouches.With close to 27 lakh people affected in different parts of the State, the Government swung into action for relief and essential items for the flood-hit. A major component of the relief, apart from food, was water. And hundreds of thousands of drinking water pouches were distributed among the people who were both flooded and marooned. This, experts say, could prove a major problem for the coastal belt, mostly the deltaic region, in the days to come.Although no clear figures are available, preliminary estimates revealed that in Cuttack district alone, where over 5 lakh people were hit by the floods, the Government distributed close to 2 lakh pouches through emergency relief. Air dropping saw more number of pouches being distributed among the affected. In Banki block alone, 60,000 pouches were distributed. “Although it is difficult to arrive at a concrete number, at least 10 lakh drinking water pouches must have been distributed in Cuttack alone over the last week with a number of voluntary and charitable organisations chipping in with support,” said a district official.Consider the total number of districts. Since Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur and Sambalpur were among the worst hit, the volume of pouch water supplied to these districts multiplies alarmingly.  Inevitably, all the plastic pouches are dumped in the rural and semi-urban pockets after use and these either go into the soil or flow into the rivers through the canals and other water channels. “It is a huge burden on the land as well as water because the plastic materials are dumped mindlessly,” said an officer of the Forest and Environment Department.The problem with the pouches is the quality of plastic which is not virgin and it can cause contamination besides, clogging the water channels and rivers.In fact, the deltaic region has quite a few wildlife habitats which eventually will face the brunt of the plastic. Bhitarkanina Wildlife Sanctuary, wildlife analysts say, will someday be flooded with the plastic materials.“The State Government would do well to instruct the district to chalk out a strategy for disposal of the plastic in the aftermath of the natural calamities,” said an officer of Urban Development Department.