Karnataka has collected ₹4.33 crore penalty from violators of plastic ban since the law came into force in 2016, Floor Leader Kota Srinivas Poojary informed the Legislative Council on Monday.
Replying to BJP member P.M. Muniraju Gowda, Mr. Poojary said the State is committed to ban the production and sale of plastics which are harmful to the environment and the existing rule will be strictly enforced. “We will direct all local bodies to strictly enforce the ban on single-use plastic,” he said.
The floor leader said over 9,000 raids have been conducted so far and ₹4.33 crore has been collected as fine. “We are slapping a penalty of ₹5,000 for first time violation, ₹10,000 if the violation is repeated, and ₹15,000 the third time. A total of 830.26 tonne of plastic waste is generated in the State per day and of this, 317.42 tonne are from Bengaluru Urban alone,” he said.
Mysuru and Chitradurga follow with generation of 144.75 tonne and 60.73 tonne of plastic waste respectively per day, according to data provided in the Council.
Congress member Prakash Rathod, who said over three tonnes of plastic is being used in the State every day, demanded that the State should initiate measures to stop reuse of plastic (single-use) from the kitchen of every citizen.
