In a surprise check, Madurai Corporation officials on Monday seized 290 kg of banned plastic products from 558 shops in the city.
Sanitary Supervisors, Inspectors and City Health Officer (in charge) M. Saroja raided shops in all the four zones and seized mostly non-woven bags, plastic-coated paper cups and plastic carry bags and slapped a total fine of ₹51,800 on the offenders.
The penal action follows Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s instruction to various departments to take stern action against violators of ban on single-use plastic items.
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Shops in Vilakkuthoon and East Vadampokki Street had the highest number of violators. “Many big shops were raided. We seized around one tonne of eco-friendly bags from these shops, as they don’t have the clearance from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board,” said Ms. Saroja.
Since the promulgation of the government’s ban on single-use plastic items on January 1 this year, the Corporation had collected ₹11.50 lakh as fine from nearly 33,000 establishments.