Mumbai: The BMC’s flying squad seized around 1,800 kg of plastic in Mumbai from August 21 to September 22 in a special drive during Ganehotsav. The team has also collected a fine of Rs 41.50 lakh from the offenders.
Earlier, the civic body would send reports of the action taken on plastic to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). However, this time, the officials of MPCB and the police personnel joined the raid team.
Currently, a flying squad of five members in each of the 24 wards have conducted raids on shopping malls, shops, and hawkers. During the Ganesh festival, around 126kg of plastic was seized and a Rs 3.75 lakh fine was collected in the first four days. The BMC seized 7,030 kg of plastic and collected a fine of Rs 1.70 crore between July 2022 and September 2023.
The government has banned single-use plastic, including its manufacturing, use, transportation, distribution, and sale. The civic body revived the drive on July 1, 2022. The ward-wise teams visit the shops in their respective areas and if the shopkeeper is found using the banned plastic, a fine between Rs5,000-25,000 is being imposed. The civic authorities are also planning to recycle the seized plastic. The civic body has plans to start centres in five administrative wards for plastic collection and hand it over to non-governmental organisations to convert it into benches, dustbins, etc.
