The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to re-initiate the drive against banned plastic in Mumbai, which had come to halt in the city during the COVID-19, from July 1.
Recently, the civic body alerted the public through a notice issued on June 1 that stringent action will be taken against those using banned plastic, including single-use disposable plastic. Hence, the officials have urged Mumbaikars to stop using banned plastic items.
However, this time, the BMC is working on the strategy to make the action effective. Official stated that by this weekend they will be ready with the strategy.
This move comes as last time, the BMC was blamed for lack of management and vigilance in its drive.
For which, a squad of around 300 officials will be formed at the ward-level, who will visit shops, markets etc., to check on the usage of plastic.
As per BMC official, under section 9 of this Act, violators must pay INR 5,000 for the first offence, INR 10,000 for the second and a fine of up to INR 25,000 and/or imprisonment for three months for an offence after that.
Meanwhile, 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.
Restricted or banned plastics include:
For those unversed, the Maharashtra government had banned single-use plastic bags and the use of plastic carry bags in June 2018. Under this initiative, the civic squads had visited shops and penalised violators and, in the process, the municipal corporation had earned INR 4.64 crore in fines and seized 86,000 kg of plastic in this period. But the drive was badly hit during the COVID-induced lockdown in 2020.
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