PPCB, civic bodies in Punjab seize 4000 kg of illegal plastic bags

CHANDIGARH: Teams of officials from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and various local civic bodies across the state conducted a day-long raids on Saturday, June 15, to verify that no illegal plastic bags were being sold in the state and seized 4000 kg of the same. As per sub-section (ii) of Section 7 of the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture, Usage and Disposal) Control Act, 2005, manufacturing, stocking, distributing, recycling, selling or using plastic carry bags is completely banned in the state. According to K S Pannu, Director, PPCB, the raids, which were conducted without divulging any prior information to the owners were carried out on nearly 500 shops and private establishments, out of which over 200 violations were found. In an official statement, Pannu said that a penalty of Rs 1 Lakh was imposed on the violators on the spot and a total of 179 challans have been issued. Pannu said that it has been observed that despite the ban, use of plastic carry bags is still rampant in Punjab, which is a gross violation of the law and a serious environmental hazard.

The biggest seizure of nearly 1100 kg illegal plastic bags were made in Fatehgarh. The authorities are planning to conduct similar large scale raids in the near future to strictly impose the ban.