Manufacturing, importing, stocking, distribution, and sale of single-use plastic will be prohibited across the city beginning July 1, according to authorities from the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram on Sunday. Violations of the regulation would result in a maximum fine of 25,000.
On Saturday, the MCG published a public order warning residents, shops, manufacturers, and exporters that single-use plastic would soon be prohibited across the city, as well as a list of things that will be affected. Single-use plastic items are those that are disposable or only used once or for a short period of time.
The Haryana Urban Local Bodies (ULB) issued an order in February directing all municipal corporations in the state to take action against the usage of plastic within their domains.
"Beginning July 1, the MCG will take action on anyone or any establishment found to be utilising single-use plastic items."
"A public notice has been published in this respect, and ongoing awareness programmes and seminars will be held over the next seven weeks to inform citizens, retailers, and manufacturers about the July 1 deadline," stated MCG joint commissioner Vijaypal Yadav.
Seven teams, each with five officers, have been formed to monitor and impose fines for single-use plastic offences, according to Yadav. Two MCG executive engineers have been named as nodal officers for the seven teams in charge of the operations.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) brand ambassador Kuldeep Singh said the MCG has created seven cloth bag banks and seven steel utensil banks around the city in the last two years to assist eliminate the usage of single-use plastic.
"To date, the MCG has distributed around 400,000 cloth bags throughout the city." Steel utensil banks have been used by thousands of residents, resulting in the reduction of at least 200,000 single-use plastic items. We will be setting up more of these cloth and steel utensil banks after the single-use plastic ban goes into force, to help replace as well as lessen the demand for single-use plastic," Singh added.
