Centre slams report that India shelved ban on single-use plastic, calls it 'fake news'

State-run Prasar Bharati News Services on October 2 rebutted the claims made by news agency Reuters that India has held off imposing a blanket ban on single-use plastics.

The report by Reuters had attributed the information to officials in the environment ministry.

Rebutting these claims through a series of tweets, Prasar Bharati said, “There was NEVER a blanket ban in the works against single use plastic. PM’s appeal and thrust has always been about a mass-movement against the scourge of single use plastics (sic).”

Calling the Reuters report, “fake news”, Prasar Bharati said, “To imagine a fictitious "ban" and then to claim it has been "shelved" is reflective of the polemical approach of International News Agencies that are looking to stoke controversies spread negativity.”

Fake News by Reuters https://t.co/HHoDsfzSAu

— Prasar Bharati News Services (@PBNS_India) October 2, 2019

The Reuters report suggested that PM Modi would “outlaw” six items of plastic on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti “as part of a broader campaign to rid India of single-use plastics by 2022.”

But, the report said the ban was being “shelved” because it was “too disruptive for industry at a time when it is coping with an economic slowdown and job losses”.

Moneycontrol had, on October 1, pulled an agency report on the same.