The Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar (MCK), which had launched a crusade against the putting up of vinyl posters, decided to ban the use of plastic bags from August 10 in the town.
Talking to The Hindu on Monday, Municipal Commissioner Krishna Bhaskar said that the authorities would launch special drive against the shops selling plastic bags and seize them. “We will allow usage of plastic bags having a thickness of 40 microns or more and completely ban the bags which do not meet the stipulated norms”, he said.
A team of municipal officials would conduct raids on all shops, business establishments, hotels, tiffin centres, curry points, vegetables and fruits vendors’ kiosks in the town.
Initially, they would launch a campaign to create awareness about the ban of plastic bags with less than 40 microns. Later, the MCK authorities would take appropriate measures of serving notices and impose heavy penalties if the traders continue to use bags of less than 40 microns thickness, he maintained.
He also said that they had decided to campaign about the segregation of garbage at the generation point by educating the people. “If we segregate the garbage as degradable and non-degradable it would be easy for disposal at the garbage yard”, he said. He also appealed to the people to use cloth bags and utensils for carrying food items from hotels and curry points.
