The State government on Monday informed the Madras High Court that stringent action, including sealing of the shops, will be initiated against shops that sell banned single-use and ‘throwaway’ plastic products.
Making a submission before a Bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and PT Asha when petitions filed by Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Plastics Association came up, Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran said: “As a first step, shops selling banned plastic goods will be fined. If they continue to sell the products, the shop will be sealed.” The license of the shop would also be cancelled, he added.
He has filed a status report on behalf of Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi explaining the steps taken to eradicate banned plastic goods. Ravindran told the court that a total of Rs 36.50 lakh was imposed as fine on 47,961 traders across the corporation. Drawing the court’s attention to one particular incident, he said the corporation slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on IndiGo Airlines for using single-use and throwaway plastic goods last year. The AAG said a special drive against banned plastic goods was carried out in Kolathur and Villivakkam areas after the court’s direction.
Ravindran said a sustained campaign is in progress to promote use of alternatives to plastic products such as traditional cloth bag (Manjappai). So far, one lakh cloth bags have been distributed free of cost.
The judges stressed on the need for not only checking the manufacture and use of such plastic products, but also prevent their smuggling into the State.
The judges wondered as to how the banned plastic goods are ferried from other states and wanted the authorities to arrest such activities. Underscoring that only a mindset change would result in the complete eradication of such plastic products, they wanted government authorities to engage newly elected civic body members and local residents associations in the drive against plastic. The bench directed the State and the Centre to file reports on an action plan and posted the matter to June 21.
