Gearing up to completely wipe out the use of one-time use plastic items, which were banned from January 1, this year, the district administration has warned imposition of fines for stocking, selling, transporting and distributing these plastic items, which posed serious threat to the environment.
On Monday, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao announced fine amounts fixed for the violators in different categories. Pointing that the ban came into force in all the 429 village panchayats in the district on January 1, 2019, the Collector said orders have been issued to impose fine amounts against those who violated the ban.
The local panchayats have been authorised to impose and collect the fine amounts fixed for different categories, he said. Those who stocked, transported, sold and distributed single use plastic items would be fined ₹25,000 when they were booked for the first time, ₹50,000 for the second time and ₹1,00,000 if they were booked for the third time, the Collector said.
Malls, supermarkets, textile shops, shops and commercial establishments which used and distributed single use plastic items would be fined ₹10,000 if they were booked for the first time, ₹15,000 if booked for the second time and ₹25,000 if they were booked for the third time, the Collector said.
The fine amount would be ₹1,000, ₹2,000 and ₹5,000 for violators in the medium commercial establishments such as grocery shops and medical shops and ₹100, ₹200 and ₹500 for small and minor shopkeepers and businessmen, he warned.
Two days after the ban on January 1, the Collector had formed 37 teams to enforce and monitor the ban in urban and rural local bodies in the district. The ban was strictly enforced in the beginning but later, there was a let up both in monitoring and enforcing the ban. Shopkeepers and vendors started giving products in use and throw plastic carry bags and consumers too became insensitive to the use.
Asserting that cleanliness begins at home, Mr Rao urged the public to carry cloth bags when they bought vegetables and other items and vessels when they bought meat, fish and eatables.