In the run-up to Independence Day, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will crack down on those selling plastic flags.
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board officials said the manufacture and sale of plastic flags have been categorically banned under the new plastic ban rules that came into effect in Karnataka in March last year.
The 2016 directions from the government say that “no person, including shopkeeper, vendor, wholesaler, retailer, trader, hawker or salesmen, shall use plastic carry bags, plastic banners ... plastic flags ... irrespective of thickness. Further, no industry person shall manufacture, supply, store, transport, sale and/or distribute plastic carry bags ...”
“This year, we will intensify rounds by Prahari (emergency) vehicles. We kept a strict vigil even during the Indian Premier League. Our officers have a fair idea of where the sale happens, which is mostly at major junctions such as M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Corporation Circle, and Koramangala. We will start the inspections before Independence Day,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner (Solid Waste), BBMP.
However, tracking down the source of the flags is a problem, BBMP officials admitted.
“They are usually sold by roadside vendors. Confiscating them is in itself a penalty for them. But we are also trying to get hold of the distributors of these flags,” said Mr. Khan, pointing to how the distributors are obscure and often difficult to trace.
But the general crackdown on banned plastic items was continuing, officials said, and added that the BBMP has been conducting raids on sale of plastic in the city.
“The malls and supermarkets have more or less fallen in line. It is the smaller traders, roadside vendors, etc. who are still giving plastic carry bags, and they have to be reined in,” he said.
