Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to make the plastic ban in the State more stringent by cancelling shop licences if any banned plastic material is found there. For this, the State Environment Department is now contemplating to take undertakings from the shop owners saying if any banned plastic found in their shops, the government can cancel the shop licence.
Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam had earlier announced that the licences of the shops will be cancelled if any type of banned plastic found in the shop. The government had succeeded up to 60 per cent in imposing a plastic ban across the State. Now to make it more stringent, the government is imposing the condition of cancelling the licence of shops if they are found in possession of the banned plastic material.
“A primary level meeting was already held in Mumbai regarding the cancellation of licence. We will take appropriate action next week on how it is going to be implemented,” Kadam said.
According to the official from the Environment Department, the decision has been finalised and will be declared very soon. The local authorities will be authorised to fine and cancel the shop licence. “There were some technical problems to cancel the licence. The shop owners may challenge the government action after the cancellation of the licence. To avoid the legal battle, the government has decided to take an undertaking from all the shop owners having the licence, where the shop owners would agree for the government’s action if found guilty,” the official said.
The local body will take the undertaking from the shop owners in their jurisdiction and the power of cancellation of the licence will also be delegated to them. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the Environment Department will keep a check on the implementation of the decision.
