Under its anti-plastic drive, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has seized 355 kg of banned plastic in the last 20 days. With this, the total seizure in the past four months to 3,000 kg across Mumbai.
The civic body’s biggest seizure so far took place in September where around 2,000 kg of banned plastic was collected by the team. Also, INR 29 lakh were collected in fines during the same period.
Meanwhile, the BMC has taken legal action against 13 violators.
Action between July 1 and Oct 28:
Total shops inspected - 74,325
Fines collected - INR 29 lakh
Violators - 580
An official from license department stated that they decided to focus on gatherings and caterers where there are more chances of plastic being used. The drive in the second phase was decided to take off from August 15. But they were short staff during the festive season and also due to various other responsibilities in the department. The action will now be in full swing.
The civic body actively implemented the ban with the seizure of 1 lakh kg of plastic and collected INR 5,53,90,000 in fines.
For those unversed, in 2018, the state government passed a law banning the use of single-use plastic. However, the ban was withdrawn amid the COVID-19 pandemic. After two years, the civic body revived the drive against plastic from July as all the restrictions were relaxed. Initially, the drive came around the festive season but now the BMC has planned to swoop down on erring commercial establishments.
If a shopkeeper is found using banned plastic, a fine between INR 5,000 to INR 25,000 is collected as per the violation. According to the law, violators could also be imprisoned for three months if required.
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