USER CHARGES INTRODUCED FOR DISPOSAL OF POLYTHENE AND PLASTIC USE ON ALL COMMERCIAL ENTITIES
THOSE WHO CRAETE POLYTHENE WASTE WILL HAVE TO PAY THE USER CHARGES
@ Amrit Pal Sidhu Brar
Abohar, October 29, 2020:
Abohar Municipal Corporation has taken a unique initiative for the management of polythene waste and has set up its own bye-laws under the Plastic Waste Management Rules- 2016, under which the Municipal Corporation would be able to collect user charges from the sellers of plastic packaging goods. Abohar has become the first Municipal Corporation in Punjab to have such a unique initiative.
Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Abhijeet Kaplish, IAS, while disclosing this here today said that the goods sold by the big companies were packed in plastic and after its use, it has been left with the Municipal Corporation in the form of plastic and polythene waste. The Municipal Corporation has to spend Rs. 50 lakh per month to clean this polythene waste from city while the adverse effects of this waste on the environment is another concern for society.
Therefore, the Municipal Corporation has framed its own rules to slap user charges on the sellers of the products that cause such plastic waste in the city. The Commissioner said that charges of Rs. 5 per delivery, would be levied on major courier companies and online retailers like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc. and home delivery companies like Zomato, Sweegi etc. Similarly, for sale of goods in multilayer plastic packaging such as Coke, Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, etc., any item with a sale price of more than Rs. 5, Corporation will charge Rs. 1 to dispose of their plastic waste.
The Commissioner further said that Rs. 50 on sale of electronic goods worth more than Rs. 2000, Rs. 100 on sale of motor vehicle and Rs. 500 on sale of four wheelers have been levied as user charges. Apart from that sellers of Wine/Liquor/IMFL/Beer will have to pay a sum of Rs. 2 per bottle for Country made Liquor while Rs. 10 per bottle for IMFL sold in the city, he added.
The Municipal Corporation will also have the power to impose penalty at the rate of 10 percent for delay in payment of user charges and to stop the sale of the related product within the limits of the Municipal Corporation for non-payment of user charge for more than two months.
Commissioner Mr. Abhijeet Kaplish said that the corporation has framed these rules under the Plastic Waste Management Rules as it is the responsibility of the commercial entity to dispose of the plastic produced by it, in the city. He said that these efforts are part of the campaign to make the city a clean and green. He said that under Chokho Abohar project the scenario of the city would soon get a change by adopting these environment related measures. He also appealed the people of the city to cooperate in the efforts being made by the corporation to make city beautiful and plastic free.