Wearing matching blue Nehru jackets, the dozen inspectors fan out across Mumbai’s hectic Crawford Market, each scouring for violators of an ambitious plastic ban.
It does not take Mahindra Wayangankar long to find one: a dry fruits seller, wrapping his wares in plastic, is hit with a hefty 5,000 rupee (US$69) fine.
Wayangankar, 50, is one of 311 officials dubbed the “blue squad” and tasked with enforcing a recent ban on single-use plastics in India’s commercial capital.
Photo: AFP
“The job is very stressful. When we fine traders and shopkeepers there is some form of resistance or violence in 99 percent of cases,” he said.
“It is difficult to work in such situations. Since the amount is huge, people don’t pay up easily,” he added.
“[But] we are happy doing this job because it helps society and protects the environment. Our goal is not just to raise revenue, but create awareness, too,” he added.
Mumbai, a bustling coastal city of 20 million people, has long been awash with vast mountains of plastic rubbish, like many urban centers in India.
Plastic is regularly blamed for blocking drains and contributing to flooding during the city’s four-month-long summer monsoon.
Earlier this year, authorities decided something had to be done and introduced a ban across Maharashtra State, of which Mumbai is the capital.
The rules, which came into force at the end of June, prohibit the use of disposable plastic items, such as bags, cutlery, cups and bottles under a certain size.
Businesses and residents face fines of between 5,000 rupees for a first-time offense to 25,000 rupees or even three months in jail for repeat offending.
Officials say citizens are already seeing the benefits of the ban.
Nidhi Choudhari, a deputy municipal commissioner in charge of enforcing it, said that 11.6 million rupees in fines had been collected and more than 21 tonnes of plastic seized.
A walk through Crawford Market and visits to grocery stores and food stalls suggest many traders have switched to cloth bags and paper straws.
However, others continue to violate the ban and large piles of plastic items can still be seen on the city’s beaches and streets.
Retailers associations complain that confusion over what is and is not permitted has led some shopkeepers to be unfairly fined.
Traders also say that a lack of cheap alternatives has hurt their businesses.
Kombaiyya S, a street vendor, used to package takeaway orders of his Indian rice cakes and stew for office workers in small plastic bags.
“I’ve lost most of my client base,” he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to make the nation free of single-use plastic by 2022.
However, while the majority of India’s 29 states have a full or partial ban on single-use plastics, the law is rarely enforced.
Members of the blue squad say they are too small in number to rid Mumbai of all its plastic, but are determined to do what they can.
A surprise inspection of a popular Hindu temple last week, which resulted in several fines, highlighted that nowhere is off limits.
“We will up the secret raids,” said Sangita R Hasnale, an assistant commissioner at the Municipal Corp of Greater Mumbai.
“Within one year I think you will be able to give us a 90 percent pass rate,” he said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese