Kolkata Municipal Corporation has yet to begin imposing penalties on users of single-use plastic bags.
A senior official of the civic body said they did not have receipts that would be issued against penalties. So the delay.
“We do not have the receipts ready yet because of which we could not begin the raids to impose penalties,” said the official. “We are trying to get the receipts by the end of this week.”
The ban on plastic bags that are less than 75 microns in thickness came into effect on July 1. Last week the KMC had said they would start imposing penalties from Monday but the action had yet to start on Tuesday.
Any seller or buyer of a banned plastic bag will have to shell out a fine of Rs 500, while a user will have to pay Rs 50. The use of bags less than 75 microns in thickness has gone down to a large extent across markets because of the fear among traders that they will be fined.
KMC officials had said they did not want to impose penalties in the first week. Instead, they were focusing on raising awareness before they start taking action against violators.
