As a part of its crackdown on plastic bags, civic officials denied entry to over 1,500 people at their offices
If you were thinking of entering any of the city’s civic offices, be warned: leave the plastic bag at home or you won’t be allowed access. After the civic body announced a ban on all plastic bags at its ward offices or headquarters (‘BMC bans entry of plastic bags’, June 16), the ban finally came into force yesterday with officials sending home over 1,500 people and confiscating 2,000 bags.
Say no to plastic: Officials at the F-south ward, Parel, deny access to visitors carrying plastic bags. Over 300 bags were seized from people carrying plastic bags to the office
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Speaking about the response, Rajendra Bhosale, deputy municipal commissioner, said, “We have received a good response from the citizens. We are also appealing to them to not use plastic bags at all, as they clog the drains causing problems in the monsoon.”
He added that the decision to ban plastic bags at civic offices was made after the 2005 deluge. Ram Chavan, a resident of Parel, was restricted entry into the F-south ward. Later, he said, “It is a good thing that they are banning the use of plastic bags, but this drive should be extended to all public places and till the citizens get used to it.”
Security officials seized over 300 plastic bags at the F-south ward office. However, at D-ward, Nana chowk, people were simply requested not to carry bags. The BMC headquarters recorded the highest number on Day 1 with over 800 bags being confiscated.
Storage problems
However, security guard, entrusted with the responsibility to confiscate the bags complained of having no space to store the seized items. “The administration should provide at least a box or cupboard to store seized carry bags,” said a security official on the condition of anonymity. When MiD DAY passed on the officials’ woes to the seniors, Bhosale added, “We will provide boxes to the ward offices so that they can store the bags.”
300
The number of plastic bags seized at F-South ward
800
The number of plastic bags seized at the BMC headquartersu00a0
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