This has made environmentalists sceptical about the implementation this time too.“The range of penalties and other measures will be finalised after the state cabinet meeting. The Plastic Manufacturing Association claimed that currently, nearly 20 million ton of plastic is used every day with over 50,000 units engaged in this field and over 4 million people dependent on plastics for a living.Ravi Jashnani, president, MPMA, said, “India has plastic use of 18 kg per head whereas in America, it is 109 kg per head and despite such huge consumption, one cannot even find a piece of plastic on its roads. Among the various stakeholders are the district collectors, civic bodies and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board . However, the MPCB maintained that this ban would be the more effective than the earlier ones. While a ban on the widespread use of plastic has been proposed earlier as well, it failed to yield results.Meanwhile the state government has also directed that no new licenses should be given to new manufacturers of plastic bags.Mumbai: Shops in the state found violating the plastic ban, will have to pay a minimum penalty of Rs 5,000 for the first time and Rs10,000 for the second offence, as per sources in the state environment department. The license of the shop could also be revoked temporarily if it has defaulted more than once,” said a senior MPCB official. All the stakeholders have been alerted about the ban from before; we have also conducted rigorous awareness drives for months to ready the public too,” said a senior MPCB official.”. We have also specified various agencies that would check upon the effective implementation of the policy,” said a senior official from the Environment Department.

The measures are a part of the draft notification on the plastic ban policy that the state government is set to implement by this March. More than 2,000 units engaged in the re-processing of plastic material provide a means of livelihood to over 4 lakh people. “Any of the mentioned authorities can conduct a raid on shops to crackdown on defaulters,” added the official. The association has also moved the Bombay high court against the Maharashtra government directive to different authorities to ban manufacture, distribution, storage or sale of plastic or thermocol items. “There are several measures specified under the plastic ban which includes ban on plastic bags, containers, plates, spoons, thermacol among others. The association said that such a ban is likely to impact millions connected with the plastic toilet stool industry as well as the consumers at large and the economy. “This time, the ban is going to be more effective as we have made it mandatory via a notification.The draft notification has various measures ranging from ban on various plastic commodities to penalties for defaulters. The state government is going to present the draft notification on the plastic ban in its upcoming cabinet meeting. The average use of plastic the world over is 30 kg per head and no country has banned its use. “We have not given license to any new manufacturers since last four months,” added the officialManufacturers to protest about plastic ban soonThe Maharashtra Plastic Manufacturing Association and other plastic associations are planning to lead a morcha on February 23 at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, against the ban on plastic.

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