After giving a free hand to the notorious plastic bag mafia in the twin-city, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally cracked the whip against the illegalities.
Less than 24 hours after taking charge of MBMC’s public health department, deputy civic chief- Ajit Muthe launched an anti-plastic drive in the twin-city. More than 200 kilograms of banned packaging material have been seized during the raid and fines amounting Rs 40,000 were collected from the violators.
The MBMC team led by sanitary inspector- Anil Rathod also registered a police complaint against a biker who was found to be ferrying a huge quantity of plastic bags in the Hatkesh area of Mira Road on Friday.
“Apart from standing instructions of keeping an eye on banned plastic vendors and users, the sanitary teams have been directed to ensure proper cleanliness work by contractual workers, regular inspection of manholes, litter free roads”, said Muthe.
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 are been empowered to swoop down on erring establishments, seize the banned material and impose fines on the violators.
However, senior civic officials had conveniently overlooked the perennial menace of plastic bags plaguing the city. For the MBMC, a blanket ban on the use of plastic bags below 50 microns has largely remained on paper for the past couple of years.
The heavy use of such plastic bags has increased its presence in solid waste created every day in the city. Out of the 500 metric tonnes of solid waste generated every day in the twin-city, more than 15 percent consist of plastic waste, this apart from 8 to 10 tonnes of industrial and bio-medical waste.
