The Hindu              31.12.2013

Corporation all set to squeeze out plastic bags

Produce plastic bags with thickness less than 40 micron
and you are in for serious trouble. For, the Coimbatore Corporation
Council had on Monday had increased the fine for those producing such
bags from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.

It had also
increased the fine for the wholesale and retail traders dealing in
plastic bags less than 40 micron and also those who would use the bags.

Giving
reasons for the increase, the resolution said that even after the
Coimbatore Corporation adopting the 2011 rules framed under the 1986
Plastic Waste Management and Handling Act, and passing a resolution in
August this year, there was an urgent need to protect the environment
and dissuade people from using plastic bags below 40 micron thickness.

One way of doing so was to increase the penalty, the resolution said and proposed the new rates.

Another
resolution the council passed was for slapping fine on those dumping
waste, including plastic covers, on roads and into drains. The
resolution said that residents and commercial establishments did not
dump waste in bins but outside, alongside roads and into drains.

Henceforth,
if the civic body caught those dumping waste outside, it would slap Rs.
200 fine on those dumping plastics, Rs. 25,000 on those dumping used
batteries, tube lights, mobile phones and covers and Rs. 50,000 on those
dumping medical waste.

Mayor S.M. Velusamy said that
such a move was necessary because plastics and waste choked the drains
and that it was becoming increasingly difficult to manage the waste.

The increase in penalty would deter public and encourage them to segregate waste.

In
Ward 23 and other places where the corporation had begun segregation of
waste at source, the conservancy workers collected around seven tonnes
waste a day.

This helped them earn more by selling
the waste to recyclers and also prevent the plastics from mixing with
the waste that could be recycled.

The council then
decided to approach the State Government for a rope car facility for the
Marudhamalai Temple. It also passed resolutions for constructing
toilets to prevent open defecation, bus terminus in Vadavalli and
construct drain in Ward 13.

Councillors wanted waiver
of water connection charges for those who had constructed houses under
the Basic Services for Urban Poor scheme.

The
Councillors said that the civic body officials citing very many reasons
had issued demand notices to the poor who had applied for water
connecting thinking that they would have to pay only Rs. 250 as decided
by the council in one of its earlier meetings.

S.M.
Samy (DMK) said that it would be unfair on the part of the Corporation
to collect a high fee for water connection from the poor, even if they
had constructed a few sq ft more than the 250 sq ft they were funded
for.

The poor beneficiaries could have used their
savings to what the corporation gave to have a bigger house and that was
not a fault.

There were more than 100 such BSUP
beneficiaries who were suffering without water connection, he said and
wanted the council to help the poor. The Mayor and officials promised to
look into the issue.