CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday reportedly expressed disappointment over the slow progress in implementation of the plastic ban in the State, post parliamentary polls and asked authorities to intensify raids. He proposed to empower revenue and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) authorities to raid, seize and penalise violators. He was chairing a periodical review meeting attended by Minister for Municipal Administration SP Velumani, Environment Minister KC Karuppannan, Revenue Minister RB Udaykumar and other senior officers of departments concerned.
Currently, only urban local bodies and village panchayats have powers to impose penalties, but shortly, revenue authorities including tahsildars and block development officers will be given powers to take punitive action against the violators. “The CM was of the opinion that there was some let-off in the implementation of plastic ban in the last two months and there was a need for more raid teams to be on the ground. So, revenue and TNPCB officials are asked to join raids and impose penalties. A special bill or amendments to relevant laws will be introduced,” a senior bureaucrat, who attended the meeting, told Express.
Tamil Nadu has 666 urban local bodies and 12,500 village panchayats, who are currently empowered to penalise plastic ban violators. Senior officials said the government introduced the Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 2019, in February, which imposed penalties for storage, supply, transport, sale and distribution of use and throw plastics.
The highest amount of fine for third-time offence will be Rs 1 lakh and Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for the first and second-time offences, respectively. The minimum is Rs 100 for small commercial vendors.
The bill further amends the laws relating to the municipal corporations and municipalities of the State, including Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919; Madurai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1971; and Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act, 1981. “Similar legislative measures are mooted to bring in revenue. If required, TNPCB officials will also implement the plastic ban in letter and spirit,” officials said.