Mumbai: BMC To Conduct Fresh Plastic Crackdown From August 21

Mumbai: The BMC has decided to conduct strict action against plastic ban in Mumbai. The action will begin from Monday August 21. Now officers of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and police constables will accompany BMC officers during raids on hawkers, shops, malls.

A BMC officer said: “For the last one year, BMC was sending reports to MPCB. But this year they approached us and told us to include their officers during raids. Last Friday they sent a list of their 24 officers to us.”

“Now there will be a five-member squad in each ward taking action against plastic. There are a total 120 people in the entire Mumbai to take action against usage and sale of plastic.” The BMC has conducted 1,586 raids and seized 5285 kilos of plastic in the last one year and collected Rs79 lakh in the form of penalty.

In 2018, the state government had banned single use plastic and the BMC began taking action against hawkers and shop owners. However, the Covid- 19 pandemic put a halt in the works. The civic body resumed action only in July 2022.