2.2K-kg plastic seized by BMC, ₹29L fine collected in 10 days

In the past 10 days, after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) relaunched its drive against single-use plastic, it has seized around 2,253 kg of plastic

In the past 10 days, after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) relaunched its drive against single-use plastic, it has seized around 2,253 kg of plastic and levied fines of around ₹29 lakh. The civic body visited around 29,000 spots randomly over 10 days to book those using plastic bags and banned plastic items.

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This drive was relaunched after environment minister Aaditya Thackeray announced two weeks ago that the government plans to make Maharashtra plastic free by May 1. Starting February 29, the BMC made public announcements by going to markets and commercial centres to appeal with citizens not to use any form of single-use plastic. March 1 onward, the BMC started visiting random shops and levied fines and booked those found guilty. As per the data provided by the BMC, between March 1 and March 9, it made 29,216 visits to random spots to catch offenders. Officials seized a total of 2,253.435-kg banned plastic and collected fines of ₹2,920,000.

A fine of around ₹5,000 was levied on those found using banned plastic, and the BMC is now also focusing on punishing repeat offenders to ensure the use of banned plastic reduces.

According to BMC officials, the civic body is also taking help from the Mumbai Police to take action against offenders. “We are using the informers’ network and trying to develop a similar network to ensure those manufacturing or hoarding single-use plastic are caught,” said a BMC official.

The Maharashtra government had in June 2018, imposed a ban on plastic. However, the drive had started losing speed as the administration got busy with election duty for almost four months in 2019. According to the BMC, between June 2018 and June 2019, it has seized around 60,000kg plastic worth ₹3.39 crore. Of this, 28,000kg was seized in the first four months, while 32,000kg was seized in the following eight months.