Mumbai: After the state environment minister, Aaditya Thackeray, announced in the legislative assembly on Friday that Maharashtra would be free of single-use plastic by Maharashtra Day (May 1), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared it will take stringent action against users of this plastic in the city from March 1.
The BMC has given an ultimatum to Mumbaikars: Stop using single-use plastic or face the consequences. A special team will be set up in all 24 wards of the BMC. In a statement, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation urged citizens, traders and hawkers to not use the prohibited plastic.
“A special team will be set up to penalise citizens found using plastics. Shops, wedding halls, offices, hawkers and markets will be on the radar of this team. So far, the corporation has collected Rs 4 crore as fine for using plastic. Our target is to ban plastic completely by May 2020,” said a civic official.
"From June 2018 till date, we have raided 13 lakh establishments and confiscated around 86 kilograms of plastic and users were fined Rs 4.65 crore," he added.
Action will be taken against manufacturers, users, buyers and sellers of one-use plastic. Disposable plastic items such as carrybags, straws, cups and plates are already banned in the state.
First-time violators will be fined Rs 5000, for a second violation, the fine is Rs 10,000, while for a third violation, the fine is Rs 25,000 and imprisonment for three months.
At civic schools, students will be asked to bring plastic items from their homes and hand it over to officials. Schools will be asked to give a guarantee that they will not use plastic.
