Ahead of the Amarnath Temple ‘Fatwa’ NGT imposes another ban on plastic in Rishikesh and Haridwar

The year 2017 is almost towards its end and we can’t yet say if it was a great year for us. This year we have achieved and broken some of the most undesirable records such us being on the top list of most polluted cities in the world.

Few steps were also taken to tackle such environmental changes such as even-odd scheme and cracker ban but all this could not work out.

All thanks to the rigid religious and political angles given to such amendments. Recently The National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a ban on the chanting of mantras at Amarnath temple and issued a slew of orders to be implemented by the Amarnath Shrine Board.

The directions come after the green court rapped the Amarnath Shrine Board last month for failing to provide adequate infrastructure facilities to pilgrims and asked it to submit a status report on the same in the first week of December.

While the step was taken as a safety measure the decision was highly disapproved by VHP dubbing it as a “Tughlaki fatwa” (whimsical whip) and said Hindus were not responsible for every ecological problem on earth.

The similar incident happened during Diwali 2017, when a cracker ban was imposed in order to tackle the ever rising smog problem in the national capital, the decision was intensely disapproved as people related it to a ban on celebrating auspicious Hindu festival.

Isn’t it amazing that we are living in the times when even the rarest logical and praiseworthy decisions of the government are disapproved on the names on religion and political agendas?

Even the educated groups of the society lose their minds when they feel that their community is being targeted, paying no deed to the environment or society.

Whatever the situations may be, one thing for sure is that with such mentality we are heading to nowhere and depleting as a society.
Anyway, something new on this trending ‘ban’ topic is that now The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has banned the use of plastic in Haridwar and Rishikesh

NGT on Friday banned the use of plastic items like carrying bags, plates and cutlery in Haridwar and Rishikesh to tackle and prevent pollution of Ganga River.

NGT also bans sale, manufacturing and storage of such items in Haridwar and Rishikesh. Both of these places have pilgrimage importance for Hindus, this ban could result in some unpleasant response. Hindus carry ‘Prasaad’, holy Ganga water, edible items in plastic bags and cutlery only so the ban might create some problem for them.

Rs 5,000 fine will be imposed on those violating the order said NGT.

Now let’s see what response we are going to get on this one!