Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Jul 11: The ambitious 'Plastic Park' project of the central government, which was supposed to come up on a plot of around 90 acres at Ganjimutt and Gurpur on the outskirts of the city is limited to just a slogan at the moment. The file which was supposed to be sent to the centre, is still getting rotten with the state government.

In 2017, the land for the establishment of the proposed park was surveyed under the leadership of Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, and a meeting was conducted in the city in this regard in the presence of Anant Kumar Hegde, union minister of state for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The proposal of the project was sent to the higher officials of the industries department in Bengaluru on the same day. However, it is learnt from reliable sources that the said file has not moved to the concerned people from the office of the industries department.

Did people's representatives neglect?

Sources are saying that the chief secretary of the state will send this file to the centre after conducting an extraordinary meeting in this regard. Once the centre gives the nod, the process for building the plastic park will begin. If this is the case, then why this project has taken so long to get an approval? The question that is being put forth by the public is that why people's representatives who speak about creating an industry-friendly environment in the state of Karnataka have not taken interest in the progress of the work related to this project.

Purpose of establishing 'Plastic Park'

This project, which was to be built at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore was intended to make use of the recycling technology of plastic along with making room for manufacturing of plastic products also. Due to this, plastic waste will be handled in a more efficient manner and also plastic products, which are in demand in the country will be manufactured.

There are several plastic manufacturing units in the country. However, as these are in small and medium scale industries it is not possible to fulfil the demands of the market for plastic products in India. Hence at present, the country is importing plastic goods from overseas. In order to overcome this hindrance, the fertilizer and petrochemical ministry at the centre thought of establishing plastic parks at various places in the country.

The central ministry has given the approval for constructing six plastic parks in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. In addition, the process was initiated in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Assam for establishing these parks.

The irony is that all the other projects of establishing the plastic parks are in the implementation stage except the Mangaluru project, which unfortunately is limited to the project file only.

MRPL opened up the opportunity for 'Plastic Park'

MRPL opened up the opportunity to establish a full-fledged plastic park in the district of Dakshina Kannada once the polypropylene unit of the company started functioning. The waste of the polypropylene unit can be used as a raw material for manufacturing plastic products. Accordingly, an appeal was sent to the central government by the Canara Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association in the year 2015. Acting on the appeal of the association, the ministry of petroleum and fertilizer had written a letter to the state government to send a proposal in this regard.

Proposal to be sent to centre soon

"The proposal with respect to the establishment of the plastic park at Ganjimutt is already sent to the state government. This is expected to be sent to the central government very soon after the chief secretary holds a meeting on this matter. After this process, the project will get approved and implemented," said Gokuldas Nayak, joint director of district industries center.