Bhubaneswar: Squads of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Sunday cracked down against the illegal sale of plastics in the city and levied penalties on the outlets flouting the plastic ban regulations of the state. A total of 71kg polythene were seized and fines worth Rs 15,200 were levied.
The squads moved to prominent business establishments, market places and malls to crack down on the erring traders. A number of raids were carried out by the enforcement squads who besides collecting fines, also counselled the traders and tried to create awareness about blanket ban of plastics in the city.
The South East Zone conducted raids at Forum Mart and Bhawani Mall and seized 60kgs polythene/plastic and Rs 6000 was collected as fines. The North Zone conducted raids on outlets inside Pal Heights, showrooms near Patia and collected Rs 9200 as fine and also collected more than 6kgs of banned materials.
The South West Zone enforcement teams conducted raids on outlets of premier brands at Krishna Plaza near ISKCON temple. After a series of searches and seizures near Khandgiri, Priyadarshini market near CRP Square, the BMC squad seized 5kgs of polythene during the raids.
The civic body during the day also went on another drive to clear the roads, markets and cycling paths in the city of encroachments, and also levied penalties on the people flouting the norms and encroaching upon public places.
“Keeping roads, footpaths and markets clean and encroachment-free is a responsibility not only of the authorities alone, but citizens also have their share in it. After the awareness drives and educating citizens we have started collecting fine as per the provisions under law,’’ said BMC Additional Commissioner, Subham Saxena.
The civic body scanned through Sishu Bhawan to Vani Vihar, Kalpana to AG Square, Acharya Vihar to AG Square and covered all the vending zones, markets and allotted shops like OMFED and OPOLFED etc. The two squads collected fines of Rs 14,500.
Similarly in North Zone, fines worth Rs 4,950 were collected. Those commercial establishments given notice earlier and were found violating the directives were fined on the spot. In the South West Zone, two squads continued the raids in CRP, Power House Square to Baramunda via Stewart School area and collected fines of Rs 8,000.