Team Herald
MARGAO: Even as Margao Municipal Council booked 57 cases and collected Rs 51,300 from people violating the ban on distribution of plastic bags on Monday, fisherwomen selling fish at the SGPDA market kept MMC staff away and did not implemented the ban.
Sanitary Inspector Viraj Arabekar and his team were gheraoed and not allowed to enter the fish market to challan people giving plastic bag to the customers. The ban therefore could not be implement here even though the team witnessed the violation of the ban.
The fish vendors are expected to visit the MMC office on Tuesday to discuss the ban on plastic with officials. However, MMC chairperson Babita Prabhudessai has given explicit instructions that the ban on plastic should be implemented uniformly and not a single section can be exempted from it.
Meanwhile, on Monday the four teams set up by MMC to implement the ban on plastic booked 57 cases and collected Rs 51,300 as fine from various violators. Although empowered to challan up to Rs. 5000, the violators were given challan up to only Rs 2000.
“Depending upon the violator and the type of business being carried out, we challaned them Rs 200, Rs 500, Rs 1000 and Rs. 2000,” Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes said.
AE Uday Dessai and sanitary inspector Sanjay Sanguelkar booked the highest number of cases in New Market and Gandhi Market, where 24 cases were registered and Rs 10,000 was collected as fines. However, the highest amount was collected by AE Ashik Khan and market inspector Hassina Begum, who booked 17 cases in the area from Bank of Baroda to Power House and Old Chowgule College area, where they collected Rs 27,900 as fines.
Viraj, along with market inspector Seema Ghodge booked 13 cases in the SGPDA market and up to Gomant Vidya Niketan area where they collected Rs 8,400 as fines, while ATO Abhay Rane with supervisor Nitin Naik booked only three cases at Comba, Old Market area up to Holy Spirit and collected Rs 5,000 as fine.
