On Thursday morning, officials from the health wing of the Coimbatore Corporation raided a shop on 100 Feet Road selling packing items and seized a few plastic goods.
The officials claimed that the shopkeeper sold items that the State Government had banned since January 1, 2019. The plastic manufacturers’ claim was that the seized goods were not covered by the Government’s ban.
Amid this claim and counter-claim, the Coimbatore Corporation had seized 69 kg banned plastic goods and slapped ₹17,000 fine after inspecting 654 shops. Since the imposition of the ban, the officials have seized 12,837.50 kg banned plastic items, and slapped ₹13.70 lakh fine after visiting 27,679 shops.
During their inspection, the officials on the field often encountered problems from shopkeepers and traders in that the latter claimed that the items they seized were plastic covers meant for primary packing and not a part of the list of 14 items that the Government had banned, said an officer.
Non-woven bags
The shopkeepers and traders also argued that since the Government had banned only non-woven bags, they were free to sell other non-woven packing items and that the officials did not have powers to seize those.
Their arguments were not right, the officer said and added that by primary packing the Government meant only covers used to pack goods at the place of manufacturing or production like milk, oil, snack covers or other such items.
And, the plastic covers that were used at grocery store or meat shops were very much part of the banned items and therefore the officials on field were fully entitled to seize those.
The officer reckoned that primary packing should also have the label of the manufacturer, the dates of manufacture and expiry and as this was not applicable to covers used at retail outlets, the items were banned.
Countering the claims, Coimbatore Plastic Manufacturers' Association's member V.K. Balu said that the Association members had prevailed upon the Corporation officials to target those retailers and manufacturers who still sold the banned items and not target those who sold items not covered under the ban.
He argued that the thick plastic covers found at shops selling packing goods were very much a part of the primary packing material and therefore not in the list of banned items.
Aluminium foils
Mr. Balu also said that he drew the officials attention to the fact that the aluminium foil covers, suggested as an alternative to plastic covers to pack sambar, rasam, curd or such liquid or semi-liquid items had plastic coating, but the officials permitted their use.
A senior officer on condition of anonymity said that for the issue to be sorted out the Government must plug the loopholes in the order banning one-time use plastic goods and unless this was done, the claims and counter-claims would continue.
He also admitted that given the strict monitoring on a daily basis from Government and district administration, the officials on field would have little choice other than obeying the order by seizing banned plastic goods.
