Corpn seals footwear shop during plastics raid

According to the Chennai Corporation, the shop was sealed on Thursday during a raid across Valasaravakkam zone. “During the raid, 155 commercial establishments were checked and 9.5 kg banned single-use plastic items were found from 14 shops. The officials collected Rs 15,800 as penalty from the shops that violated the ban,” said a release from the civic body.

An official said that besides using banned items, the shop owners had also failed to avail trade licence, which is mandatory for running shops in the city.

“To conduct the raid, three special teams were formed in the zone, which raided shops in Nolambur, Maduravoyal, Porur, and major roads. From January 1 to December 5, officials of Valasaravakkam zone raided 31,773 shops and seized 18 tonnes of banned plastic items from 1,420 shops and collected around Rs 11 lakh as a penalty,” theofficial added.

Also, the civic body raided 37,526 shops in Kodambakkam zone till Thursday, and seized around 60 tonnes of banned plastics to collect Rs 8.47 lakh as penalty.

Overall, the civic officials have conducted raids at more than 3.60 lakh commercial establishments in the city and seized 311 tonnes of banned plastics till Friday.

More than Rs 88.97 lakh has been collected as penalty.