Tamil Nadu to slap fines on violators, order soon

In a bid to curb plastic pollution, the Tamil Nadu government is all set to issue an order in the coming days to penalize manufacturers, traders and users who violate the ban on 14 plastic products that comes into effect from January 1 (today). The state has been mulling over the proposal after studying the models of various states, including Karnataka.

“The file is on the move. The order may come tomorrow or a day after. Fine cannot be imposed immediately, as a notice has to be issued. But legally that is tenable. The state government is considering fine for sure,” said environment secretary Shambu Kallolikar.


The pollution control board has already issued preliminary notices to 1,400 manufacturing units in the state.

In Karnataka, Bengaluru Municipal Corporation slaps Rs 2 lakh on the manufacturer of banned plastic items for a first-time offence and Rs 5 lakh for subsequent offences. Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have provisions for penalty too.

Kallolikar said the 14 banned items only constitute five per cent of the total plastic manufactured in the state. Given the legal backing and the Madras high court batting for phasing out plastic of any kind in the market, he said the plan was to ban more plastic items. “Next is multi-layered plastic, the shiny paper for ready-to-eat snacks,” he said.

The Union environment ministry has already notified the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2018, which mandates phasing out of manufacture and use of non-recyclable multi-layered plastic in two years.