TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Around 2,000 cases have been booked for using or selling plastic bags below 40 microns thickness, since April 8, 2013. Also fines of Rs 2.48 lakh have been imposed on the violators, Environment Minister Alina Saldanha said in a written reply to Goa Assembly Wednesday.
She said that government vide an April 8 order has implemented and enforced ‘The Goa Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act 1996’ in the State, to ban sale and use of plastic bags which are below 40 microns thickness.
Alina said that an enforcement team consisting of Superintendent of Police (North and South), Collector (North and South), Directorate of Municipal Administration and Directorate of Panchayats has been constituted to impose penalty on the violators.
According to her reply, a total of 1,956 cases have been booked and fines amounting to Rs 2,48,800 have been imposed.
Goa has been grappling with the issue of garbage management, and with the State being unable to identify sites to dispose garbage for over a decade, it is not unusual to find piles of garbage strewn along the roads as well as near urban hubs in this beach tourism destination.
