228 kg plastic seized; four shops sealed

Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) officials, who raided various shops at Shivarampet and Santhepet yesterday, have seized 228 kg of banned plastic materials from the shops besides collecting a total fine of Rs. 22,000 from the shopkeepers.

The officials have also sealed four shops for storing the banned plastic items. The officials had earlier imposed fines on these shops many times and the shopkeepers were also warned not to store or sell the banned plastic. As these four shops continued to violate the norms, the MCC Officials sealed the four shops. The raids were held by the MCC team comprising officials and Abhaya team members, who were led by MCC Environmental Engineer Mythri.

Meanwhile, a few environmentalists said that the MCC raiding shops in Shivarampet and Santhepet and seizing plastic items has become a normal procedure.

The shopkeepers have got used to the raids and they pay the fine imposed by MCC but continue to sell and store the banned plastic materials, the environmentalists said and added that most of the shopkeepers store large quantity of the banned materials in secret godowns and only bring a small quantity of it to the shops to sell, which gets seized by the MCC.

Shopkeepers say that the customers ask for plastic covers after they purchase items from them but when they (shopkeepers) say that they do not have plastic covers, the customers do not buy from them and move to another shop.

Environmentalists said that the MCC should effectively implement the plastic ban and should seize the banned items when it enter their jurisdiction itself instead of raiding shops and then seizing the banned items.