Corporation to begin raids today

Civic body will target ‘storage points’ of banned products

Starting Wednesday, the Corporation will begin raids on ‘storage points’ of banned plastic products. According to estimates, more than 1,000 premises are likely to still have stockpiles of banned plastic products in various parts of the city. The areas where huge quantities of banned plastic products have been reportedly stored include Perambur, Madhavaram, George Town, Porur, T. Nagar, Anna Nagar and Ayanavaram.

Senior officials of the Chennai Corporation said they did not carry out raids on violators of the plastic ban on Tuesday.

However, local-level officials at each of the 200 wards have started collecting information on storage of banned plastic products with support from sources among traders.

The Corporation has been able to collect just 1.8 tonnes of banned plastic products from those having such stockpiles. “Banned plastic products will be collected at 200 ward offices. The plastics will be shredded and used for road relaying,” said an official. The civic body has been creating awareness among traders to deposit the banned plastic products at any of the 200 ward offices of the Corporation for the past few days. In case of raids, the Corporation officials will seal the premises after seizing the banned plastic products.

“We will not seal smaller retail outlets. We will only seize the banned plastic products from them. Huge premises with a very large quantity of banned plastic products will be sealed,” said an official.

Teams formed

The Corporation had already formed teams in all the 15 zones to create awareness of the plastics ban.

The officials have warned them about a fine of ₹10,000. “The officials also said they would cancel the trade licence for retailers using banned plastic products,” said a shopkeeper on Nungambakkam High Road on Tuesday.

Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan said, “We are determined to implement the ban. At the same time, we should not be erratic.”