Traders trying to beat ban with approved stamps on thin polybags
After a brief lull, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) resumed its crackdown against traders who were violating the plastic ban in the twin-city.
Acting on a specific tip-off, a special civic squad swooped down on a godown located in the Jai Ambe Industrial area in Bhayandar (east) on Monday evening. Around 700 kg of banned packaging material, worth more than Rs 4 lakh was seized during the raid.
The civic authorities also came across bags with stamps mentioning the thickness to be more than 50 microns, but measurements showed them to be much thinner, exposing the desperate attempts of manufacturers and traders to dodge the stringent rules that are meant to combat the decades-old problem of plastic pollution by outlawing bags thinner than 50 microns.
The owner of the establishment, identified as Amit Patel, was slapped with a fine amounting Rs 10,000. After the ban was enforced in March 2018, the MBMC had formed 13 special squads each comprising five personnel led by the respective zonal sanitary inspectors who have been empowered to swoop down on erring establishment, seize the banned material and impose fines on the violators.
However, it has been alleged that under the garb of vigilance, a section of ward-level sanitary inspectors are adopting a pick-and-choose policy by pocketing a smaller amount for themselves instead of issuing official receipts towards penal recoveries.