Authority cautions vendors on plastic use

Noida, Aug. 4: In a crackdown on illegal use of polythene, the Noida Authority on Saturday imposed hefty penalties on vendors using plastic carry bags during an inspection at the Saturday market in Sector 19 here, officials said.

The authority’s officials also announced that plastic carry bags or any other items made of thermocol will be banned from August 15 and violators will be punished according to the law.

“Around three kg of plastic bags were seized and ` 17,000 collected in fine from the vendors during the inspection led by city magistrate S. K. Gupta,” Noida Authority Officer on special duty ( OSD) Rajesh Kumar Singh said.

A penalty of ` 1,000 was imposed on people who were found using plastic bags during the inspection, he said. The authority had last month also carried out similar inspections and issued challans in sectors 6, 27, 19 and 50 soon after the Uttar Pradesh government banned the use of polythene bags and items of common use made of plastic, effective July 15.

“We have decided to ban plastic in the entire state from July 15. I appeal that after July 15, plastic cups, glasses and polythene should not be used at any level. This will need the cooperation of all of you,” chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said in a message released on Twitter by his office. The state had earlier also “banned” plastic, but the prohibition on its use could not be implemented effectively. In December 2015, when the Akhilesh Yadav government was in power, the state Cabinet had decided on an “absolute ban” on distribution, manufacture and sale of plastic and polythene bags with a thickness of more than 40 microns. However, by January 2016 many areas, including Noida on Delhi’s outskirts, had failed to adhere to the guidelines and the ban could not be implemented effectively. A similar ban came from the Maharashtra government in July.