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Crackdown in Vellore shows plastics ban yet to achieve totality in State
A year has passed by since the Tamil Nadu government banned single-use plastic items across the State. However, the seizure of such banned plastics from nearly five shops in the Nethaji flower market here and the imposition of fine not more than Rs 200 from the errant shop owners seems to highlight the fact that the State-wide ban on 14 synthetic items has not yet yielded the desired effect.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
Besides the recent seizure, Vellore Municipal Corporation officials said that around 20 tonnes of banned plastic items were over the past two months seized from shopkeepers in Chunnambukara Street and Long Bazaar – the local body’s commercial hub. They were then sent to two cement factories in Ariyalur for processing.
Talking about the seizure being carried out, officials said, “We are tipped off by affected shopkeepers who want those hoarding the banned items also to suffer the same fate.
They inform the District Collector or the Corporation Commissioner and we as the local body’s subordinate officials help them in actually raiding the ‘spotted’ premises.” Officials, however, mentioned how it was not the banned plastics alone that were being seized but even tobacco products like gutkha and maava which continued to be seized almost on a daily basis.
A case in point could be a tourist operator’s office that hoarded gutkha items being sealed by officials. Though the raid immediately led to the raising of a hue and cry, it died down immediately when the affected parties realised that their associations were reluctant to come to their aid, sources said.
When asked about this, Vellore traders’ association president RP Gnanavelu said, “The ban is not working because only 11 of the 29 states in the country have banned plastic items. Also, as the banned products are easily available in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that is seven kilometres from Katpadi, traders find it easy to purchase the items from there with plans to use them here.”
“However, we have categorically informed our members that the association will help them only if officials seize items which are not banned,” he added.
A trader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Customers want us to give plastic bags as they are mostly unwilling to pay for the alternatives, like cloth or jute bags, we have. Hence we are forced to opt for plastic bags to retain our customers.”
Commenting on the issue, Vellore Municipal Corporation sanitary inspector Siva Kumar, “The seized items are either cut or have holes drilled in them before they are shipped to the cement units to prevent them from coming back into circulation.
The closure of the Saduperi dump yard was due to plastic waste accumulating, resulting in the high court’s green Bench ordering its closure.”
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