Mumbai:Vendors flouting plastic ban get visit from Environment minister

Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam called the cops on vendors at Siddhivinayak temple found using plastic. Pic courtesy/ABP Majha

A day after mid-day's front-page exposé of the rampant use of plastic bags by flower and vegetable vendors, Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam took a round of Siddhivinayak Temple and rounded up five flower sellers flouting the plastic ban. Those vendors, and five others, were fined R5,000 each by the local ward officers.

The plastic ban was announced amid much fanfare just three months ago, with the BMC threatening strict fines of anywhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000. However, mid-day conducted a test drive across the city and found that plastic was not just freely available in markets, but the BMC's plastic-hunting blue squad was also missing in action. One of the market areas this paper highlighted was Dadar, where plastic bags were in rampant use.

Kadam was on a visit to the Siddhivinayak temple when he saw vendors selling flowers in plastic bags. He caught five vendors and handed them over to the police, after which the local ward officers took action.

Flowers in plastic bags at Dadar flower market

Minister in action
"I was visiting the temple and saw people selling flowers in plastic bags. I immediately handed them over to the Dadar police's beat chowkie inside the temple premises. BMC officials came in after I left, and fined them," said Kadam, adding, "Several other major actions are also being taken by the local authorities across the state."

Following the minister's intervention, the ward officer from G-South ward (under which part of the temple falls) arrived with the blue squad to take action. They also raided several other flower stalls in the premises, and fined another vendor. Following suit, even the G-North ward officials took action in temple premises under their jurisdiction.

Civic officials say
Devendrakumar Jain, G-South's assistant municipal commissioner (AMC), said, "I was informed by the police station and by my seniors that Minister Kadam had caught certain vendors with plastic. I immediately went there with my staff.

We also raided other stalls and found another vendors with plastic. We confiscated all the material and fined a total of six vendors." A Khairnar, G-North's AMC, said, "We carried out surprise checks in the premises and fined four people violating the rules. We have also started a massive campaign in Dadar to curb the plastic menace, along with our regular action that has been going on for months." A total of 10 vendors were fined in that area alone on Wednesday.

Also Read: mid-day test drive: Plastic bags banned in Mumbai? Says who?

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