Mumbai: The Maharashtra government’s state-wide ban on the use of plastic items, including carry bags and thermocol, came into effect from Saturday.
For first-time offenders, the fine will be Rs5,000. For second-time offenders, the fine will be Rs10,000. Those who violate it for the third time will be fined Rs25,000, along with an imprisonment of three months.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told PTI that the plastic ban can succeed only if all the stake-holders support the move.
“We want to promote responsible use of plastic. Therefore, we have banned the kind of plastic that cannot be collected, regulated and recycled,” he said.
The chief minister said that the ban puts the onus on the polluters, but at the same time some exceptions have been made so that businesses are not disrupted.
“The ban will succeed only with the participation of all the stake-holders and that the government has made a committee to ensure trouble-shooting and smooth adaptation. We do not want to promote police raj [rule] and we are also trying to address the concerns of traders and small vendors,” Fadnavis said.
On March 23, the state government had imposed a ban on manufacturing, use, sale, distribution and storage of plastic materials such as one-time-use bags, spoons, plates and thermocol items.
The government had given three months for the disposal of the existing stock.
All kinds of plastic bags, irrespective of their thickness, tea cups, glasses, thermocol glasses, thermocol used for decoration, plastic used in hotels to parcel food like boxes, spoons have been banned from Saturday, state environment minister Ramdas Kadam said.
“The first-time offenders will have to pay a fine of Rs5,000, Rs10,000 if caught for the second-time and Rs25,000 along with a jail term of three months for third-time offence,” he said.
Claiming that 80 per cent of the plastic is manufactured in Gujarat, the minister said the government has made strict provision of three-month jail if plastic is found being brought into Maharashtra from any other state.
Kadam said plastic and thermocol used by manufacturing companies, materials used in hospitals like saline bottles, and boxes used to store medicines, plastic pens, milk pouches that are above 50 microns in thickness have been exempted from the ban.
“Plastic and thermocol used for packaging television sets, fridges, computers as well as raincoats, plastic used for storing food grains and that used in nurseries for plants and also plastic in which biscuits, chips, are packaged, etc has been exempted from the ban,” he said.
Welcoming the ban, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said people will face some difficulty initially but they will get used to it eventually.
“This decision will change the destiny of our future generations. I am sure this decision taken by the government will serve as an example for the entire world,” he said.
Thackeray said work towards the ban on plastic was initiated in August last year, when it was found that plastic had led to major water-logging in Mumbai following torrential rainfall.
“A lot of plastic and thermocol was found stuck in gutters, which rendered our pumping stations useless and caused flooding in the city. We have since been working on banning use of plastic,” he said.
