Assam: Only 250 ml water bottles will be banned from October 2, announces CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on October 1 announced an extension of the state's water bottle ban, specifically addressing the concerns of indigenous youth entrepreneurs. Starting from October 2, the sale of 250ml water bottles will be prohibited, whereas the ban on 500ml water bottles will be extended for an additional year.

CM Sarma elaborated on the reasoning behind this adjustment, saying, "After we initially announced the ban on water bottles below 1 litre to combat plastic waste, we received requests from a group of enterprising indigenous youngsters who had established water bottling industries specializing in 500ml bottles. They sought an extension of the ban implementation, citing the need for time to upgrade their manufacturing machinery."

"In light of these considerations, we have decided to extend the ban on the sale of 500ml water bottles by one year to allow these young entrepreneurs sufficient time for the necessary equipment upgrades," he stated. Furthermore, CM Sarma added that the state government would support this initiative by covering 10 percent of the costs required for machinery upgrades.

It's worth noting that back in July, the Assam government had initially announced the prohibition of water bottle sales below 1 litre as part of their commitment to environmental conservation and reducing plastic waste in the state.