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Dimapur, July 19 (EMN): To eradicate the menace of single-use plastics (SUP), Dimapur district administration along with civil society organisations have decided to penalise delinquent shopkeepers with INR 2000 for first offense, followed with INR 5000 for second offense and INR 10,000 with cancellation of trade license for third offense.
To strictly monitor and ensure ban on single-use plastics, a five number Vigilance Squad was formed comprising of district administration, police, Nagaland Pollution Control Board, representatives from Dimapur Municipal Council and town council, GBs’ Union DUCCF, village councils.
The decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of the district task force with representatives from NGOs, civil societies, DMC and GBs held in the conference hall of the deputy commissioner’s office on July 19. A DIPR report stated that the members have reiterated ban on manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sales and use of single use plastics.
During the meeting, the deputy commissioner, Sachin Jaiswal, pointed out that plastic menace could be reduced only when the whole seller/ shopkeepers discourage the customers from using single-use plastics by giving them alternative such as cloth bags at nominal rate. Since churches play a vital role in Nagaland, he called upon the churches to give awareness on the menace of single-use plastics.
Meanwhile, the DMC administrator, Albert Ezung, suggested to have public awareness programme on the single-use plastics and also made available an alternative means in the market.
The GBs’ federation also suggested passing an order from the offices of the deputy commissioner and DMC to empower the colony's GBs and council to check the menace of SUPs, while DUCCF suggested all manufacturing units, factories and whole sellers involve in SUP to stop immediately.
The house decided that reports on daily activities by the ULB on single-use plastics should be submitted to the higher authority.