PESHAWAR, Feb 3: Authorities in Peshawar and Mardan have failed to enforce a ban on the making and use of black polythene bags.

The NWFP Local Council Board announced the ban on Sept 1, 2004, to protect environment from pollution caused by these bags, but the two district governments paid no attention to the directives, said official sources.

The environmental protection agency (EPA), NWFP, has also failed to exert pressure on the district in this regard. "If they [district governments] have not taken the provincial chief secretary's instructions seriously, how can we influence the public to prohibit the use of black polythene shopping bags," said Dr Bashir Khan, director of the environmental protection agency.

Secretary of the local government department, NWFP, Umer Khan Afridi expressed ignorance about the decision, saying that he had recently taken over the charge of his department.

"Though I did not know much about the decision taken in the past, the two districts should have implemented the decision," said Mr Afridi. Chief Secretary Ejaz Qureshi, at a high-level meeting, had given the instructions to stop the manufacturing and use of black plastic bags initially in the two districts.

The meeting had planned to later extend the ban to the whole province. According to experts, plastic polythene bags, especially black, are a threat to the environment. They cannot be disposed of and contain hazardous chemicals.