Pune: Until now, more than 200 plastic units across Maharashtra have been sealed for not complying with the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) mechanism. Because of this, lakhs of employees working in these plastic units have suffered the most. Meeting with Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCP) was supposed to take place on November 5, but it got cancelled, due to which employees have been suffering the most.
Ravi Jashnani, President of Maharashtra Plastic Manufacturers Association, said, “After October 22, the surprise raids and sealing of plastic units across Maharashtra continued. Till now, more than 200 plastic units have been sealed for not complying with EPR mechanism. Fearing surprise raids, most of the plastic units have shut their units. This has badly affected lakhs of employees all over Maharashtra.”
Jashnani further said, “All these issues took place right before Diwali and now the employees have not got their Diwali bonus and their payments as well. The owners of plastic units can at least survive for two to three months after the sudden closedown of their business, but employees cannot survive for two to three months.”
“Looking at this situation, we were in continuous follow-up with MPCB. They have also assured that they will hold a meeting to discuss the same on November 5, but they themselves cancelled it. And now, due to festive season of Diwali, everyone is on holiday. Now, we are waiting for Monday to meet the MPCB authorities and organise a meeting to talk about the issue,” Jashnani added.
