SAMBALPUR: Even as the State Government’s plastic ban order will come into force in six cities from Tuesday, the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) had prohibited use of polythene products more than three years ago and succeeded in enforcing the ban.
The civic body had enforced the ban on the use of polythene products in the city from February 15, 2015. The decision was taken after polythene bags were found to be the real culprits behind choking of drains and waterlogging in the city.
The corporation has seized about 24 quintals of banned polythene products from various business establishments across the city between April and September this year. The corporation has also collected fine of `2.43 lakh from the violators during the period. Similarly, 64 quintals of banned polythene products have been seized between 2015-16 and 2017-18, while fine of `14.94 lakh collected from the violators, said SMC’s Enforcement Officer Subhankar Mohanty.
The civic officials conduct regular raids and penalise shops which are found using polythene bags. They regularly conduct raids on roadside vendors, shops, markets and shopping malls and impose fine on the violators, Mohanty said.
He claimed that Sambalpur is perhaps the only city in the State where the sale of pouches containing drinking water has been completely stopped. At present, ban has been imposed on the use of polythene bags below 50 micron. However, they will follow the new draft on the ban of polythene from October 2, he said.
Before enforcing the ban in 2015, the district administration had launched several awareness drives and made the people aware about its impact on environment. The administration had also held meetings with owners of the shops, business establishments, eateries and asked them to refrain from using the polythene bags and opt for carry bags made of biodegradable materials.