From July 1, the BMC is all set to take action against those using banned plastic, including single-use disposable plastic. The civic body's license, markets, shop and establishment departments squad will visit hawkers, markets and shops, respectively.
The violators will be fined Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 along with three-months imprisonment, if required. Malls, supermarkets and big commercial establishments will be on the BMC’s priority list of inspection.
In 2018, the state government passed a law on plastic ban and the BMC soon started taking action in the city.
However, the crackdown came to a halt for two years owing to Covid-19. As a result, plastic carry bags are back on the market. So, the BMC alerted the citizens through a fresh notice issued on June 1 and warned about the stringent action that will be taken against the violators.
A squad from the BMC's market department will visit all the markets in the city while license staff will take action on hawkers and traders. Also, the shops and establishment team will go to every shop in the city and check if they still use banned plastic.
“Since the action will be taken after a gap of two years, in the first few days the BMC will be lenient with action on the small shops. We want the malls, supermarkets, etc to stop using plastic first,” a civic official said.
"It is not a new drive, before the pandemic we seized around 1 lakh kg of plastic from the violators. This time, the action on single-use plastic is added to the drive," said BMC deputy commissioner (special) Sanjog Kabre.
The production, transportation, sale, storage, handling and use of prohibited plastic, as prescribed by the Maharashtra government, is prohibited under the Maharashtra Degradable and Non-Degradable Waste (Control) Act, 2006.
Since 2018, the BMC has earned Rs 5,53,90,000 in fines against use of plastics.
