The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to take action against those using plastic, including single-use disposable plastic, from today, July 1.
The civic body's license, markets, shop and establishment departments squad will visit hawkers, markets and shops, respectively. Malls, supermarkets and big commercial establishments will be on the BMC’s priority list of inspection.
According to a guidelines released by the BMC, a squad from the civic body’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.
As per reports, the violators will be fined INR 5,000 to INR 25,000 along with three-months imprisonment, if required.
For those unversed, 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.
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, said an official.
However, 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 INR 5,53,90,000 in fines against use of plastics.
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