Ludhiana activists serve legal notice over banned single-use plastic after PAU event
The Public Action Committee wants Punjab's administration and pollution regulators held accountable for the open sale and use of prohibited plastic items in the city.
A row over banned single-use plastic at a state-level event on the Punjab Agricultural University grounds in Ludhiana is escalating. The Public Action Committee (PAC) has served a legal notice on several government bodies, accusing them of allowing prohibited plastic items to be sold, distributed and used openly across the city.
The notice has gone to the Chief Secretary of Punjab, the Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, the Municipal Corporation and the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority. It cites the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which restrict single-use plastic items and set out how plastic waste should be handled.
The committee's core complaint is that the problem is visible everywhere, not just at one event. According to the notice, banned items are being sold and handed out in markets, shops, commercial establishments and roadside vending spots, including wholesale vegetable markets and stores that deal in disposable goods. PAC argues that this open availability suggests inspection and enforcement are not working as they should.
The group has asked for immediate action against those responsible for the violations, and it wants the authorities who are meant to prevent them to answer for lapses. It also claims that single-use plastic can be seen with almost every waste collector gathering household garbage in Ludhiana, a point that links the sales problem to the city's waste management system.
Why does this matter beyond one event? Single-use plastic is among the hardest waste streams to recover, and the 2016 rules were designed to push cities toward scientific plastic waste management and fewer disposable items in circulation. When banned products remain easy to buy in bulk, the burden falls on municipal collection, drains and landfills, and on residents who live with the consequences. A legal notice forces regulators to put their enforcement records on the table.
For Ludhiana, the next steps will show whether the notice leads to inspections, penalties and cleaner collection routes, or whether it becomes another complaint on file. Shopkeepers, vendors and event organisers may also face closer scrutiny. Residents who want to follow the story can read the original reporting from The Tribune here: Tribune India report on the Ludhiana plastic notice.
