Byculla ward office first to ban plastic on its premises

The civic ward office in Byculla (E-ward) has banned the use of plastic bags on its premises. Bhavika Jain reports.

The civic ward office in Byculla (E-ward) has banned the use of plastic bags on its premises.

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This anti-plastic carry bag movement was decided in a review meeting presided by the Deputy Municipal Commissioner Milind Sawant and implemented from June 7.

This will be the first ward of the 24 wards in the city that is aiming at making its premise plastic bag free.

The ward officials have set up a kiosk and two security personnel’s are posted near the entrance to not let people take plastic bag inside.

They confiscate the plastic bag and give the visitors a paper bag for free.

“The idea behind this initiative is that when we talk about banning plastic bags across the city we want to begin this movement from our own offices,” said Prakash Patil, assistant municipal commissioner (E-ward).

Till date more than 1,072 bags have been confiscated.

Currently, the sale and use of plastic carry bags thinner than 50 microns is banned in the city. This ban was imposed by the state government in 2005 after it was found that the plastic bags clogged the drains amplifying the situation.

"The idea behind this initiative is that when we talk about banning plastic bags across the city we want to begin this movement from our own offices."
Prakash Patil,
Assistant Municipal Commissioner,
E-ward

Another unique thing about this initiative is that the funds to buy these paper bags have been contributed by the officers from the ward office.

“We are going to rigorously implement it so that the people frequently coming to the ward office will stop using plastic bags,” added Patil.

This is also applicable for the officers and the other staff of the ward office. There will be more than 600 officials in the ward office and 35 to 40 different departments.

The ward office is visited by an at least 2,000 people everyday. The staff is using a cloth bag to carry their items such as tiffin boxes. They have designed the initiative in such a way that they are not only asking to stop usage of plastic but are also giving them an alternatives immediately. The collected plastic bags will be handed over to the license department who will then disposed them.