BHUBANESWAR: Huge quantity of single-use plastic items were seized from a building in Saheed Nagar here on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off about huge quantity of single-use plastic (SUP) stocked in Saheed Nagar area, a joint raid was conducted by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhubaneswar Development Authority, State Pollution Control Board and Commissionerate Police.
Action will be initiated against the offender and seized items will either be confiscated or destroyed, he added.
“Single-use plastic, carry bags and cutlery stored in the building have been seized. The items were procured from outside the State,” said an officer of State Pollution Control Board.
Odisha Government has banned SUP in all urban areas of the State from October 2. The officials seized 103 boxes of spoons, 74 boxes of polythene bags, 53 boxes of glass, five boxes of thermocol and two boxes each of containers and straws from the spot.
A fine of Rs 50,000 fine was also collected from the vendor, Alok Kumar Biswal. The items were purchased from Kolkata and Gujarat and sold to shopkeepers and customers, Biswal said.
The vendors are not allowed to use polythene sheets of less than 50-micron thickness for storing, transporting, dispensing or packaging of any article or commodity or food items, consumables, packaging of milk and milk products and edible oil in a sealed manner.