200 officers To Keep An Eye On Plastic Ban Offenders
You can see the officials across all the 24 wards in the city and will have uniforms licensed by the corporation. The 200 officials assigned by BMC has all the rights to take action against the plastic ban offenders.
To inform about banned items, Maharashtra government is planning to run an extensive awareness campaign in the next eight days.
Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam further said, “80 per cent of banned plastic items are manufactured in Gujarat and smuggled to Maharashtra. If anyone brings banned plastic goods, then they will be imprisoned for three months.”
He further said, “The ban will mostly hit jobs in the plastic sector in Gujarat. We will find alternative jobs for those in Maharashtra.”
Ganesh Mandal Request
In response to the demand to exempt thermocol used for decorations during Ganesh Festival, Kadam said, “Some Maharashtrian youths met me and requested to allow to use thermocol items in the festival this year as they had already purchased these items.”
“If Ganesh Mandals give an undertaking that these items will be later handed over to the municipal corporation for disposal, then the empowered committee of the government may give an exemption,” he said.
He said that they have given an extension of three months to retail packaging companies to submit an undertaking on recycling of plastic materials. If they give the affidavit, the empowered committee will consider exempting them from the ban,” the minister said.
“The plastic ban was not announced overnight, unlike demonetization. The decision was in the discussion for nine months. There has been a lot of awareness about the ban. Only wilful offenders would be worried about fines”, said Yuva Sena (Shiv Sena’s youth wing) chief Aaditya Thackeray.
BMC Helpline
The BMC has set up a toll-free helpline (1800-222-357) for citizens so that they can collect banned plastic and hand it over to garbage collectors. Due to plastic, the aquatic life damages. Plastic is also responsible for the emission of sulfur gas, which is carcinogenic. Many aquatic animals die after eating plastic. I don’t know why people don’t care about other creatures.
I really appreciate this move. Hope every state in India will follow this plastic ban and collect fines very strictly. Do your family still using plastic for daily purpose? Did you take any effort to stop the plastic pollution in your locality? Share us in the comments. If you are looking for alternatives to plastic, then read this.
