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Bombay civic authorities, who had declared a war on thin plastic bags last year, have again begun raiding units illegally manufacturing such bags.
As part of the renewed war on thin plastic bags, the nuisance detectors of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) raided two units in Bhandup, a suburb, during the weekend and seized machinery worth Rs five lakh (Rs 0.5 million), sources said.
"After we began the crackdown on illegal bag manufacturers last year, most of them shifted to neighboring Gujarat while a few went underground," a civic official said.
According to civic officials, plastic bags thinner than the prescribed 20 microns fetch good profits for manufacturers.
While thick bags are priced at Rs 60 per kilo, the thinner bags made from recycled plastic sell for half the price.
"We have noticed several manufacturers selling thin bags after giving false declarations about their thickness on the covers, and they will face a crackdown too," the official said.
Illegally made plastic bags are transported by cabs and sold to small retail units, according to civic officials.
Raids in the past year have resulted in the BMC nabbing more than 3,000 people manufacturing, stocking and selling the contraband bags. All of them have been heavily fined, say civic officials.
According to municipal officials, the thin plastic bags clog drains and prevent the city's sewage from being flushed into the sea. The city's beaches are completely covered by plastic bags, particularly during the monsoon.
"Every year, the BMC removes several thousand truckloads of plastic bags from the beaches," a civic official said.
The crackdown on thin bags last year, however, resulted in fewer plastic bags being recovered from the beaches this monsoon.
"The drive against thin bags has really worked," a civic conservancy official said.
Officials of the state pollution control board, municipal conservancy workers and the octroi department jointly cracked down on thin plastic. The BMC forced all plastic manufacturers to recalibrate their machines to stay in business.
The nuisance detectors of the BMC also fanned out to different parts of the city to levy spot fines on shops and establishments using the thin bags.
Several hundred thousand rupees were collected by way of fines, say civic officials. Indo-Asian News Service
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