VIJAYAWADA: During simultaneous raids conducted in division number 39, the special teams appointed by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Saturday raided various shops in One Town and imposed a penalty of Rs20,000 on a trader for handing over banned single-use plastic (SuP) to customers.
Following the directions of municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh, the special team lead by zonal commissioner Chandraiah raided various shops on Canal Road, Marwadi Temple Street, Sivalayam Street and seized banned plastic from them. “We will intensify our raids across the city in the coming days in order to prevent the usage of SuP. Shop owners and the public should cooperate with us. Unlike earlier, cloth and jute bags are available in the market and public should carry them to markets instead of depending on plastic bags,’’ Chanadaraih said.
The zonal commissioner cautioned that in the next few days, the civic body will impose a penalty of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh initially against showrooms selling ready-made goods whose annual turnover is over Rs 40 lakh. If they are caught for a second time they will be fined Rs 1 lakh and if found committing similar crimes for the third time their trade license will be cancelled, he added.
