GHMC Clamping Down On Flexes, Plastic Bag Use

In a surprising act, GHMC Mayor B Rammohan directed officials to impose a penalty of Rs 15,000 each on G Nagendra and V Mohan Reddy for displaying unauthorized flexes and banners at the TRS Bhavan - the den of the ruling party, to which Rammohan himself belongs - and the Rs 30,000 has reportedly been collected.

He claimed that the GHMC was strictly implementing the ban on flexes, and appealed all the political parties and the public representatives to cooperate with the GHMC by not erecting the banners.

He also said that the ban on plastic bags below 50 microns in thickness was being implemented with the same rigour (thicker bags are more expensive, resulting in merchants not being able to give them out for free, and thereby reducing usage), so as to avoid plastic pollution. GHMC officials were inspecting several circles in the city and penalizing the offenders heavily, and the drive would be taken up in all circles in the GHMC jurisdiction in the coming days, he said. In the last two days itself around Rs. 1.5 lakhs and 500 kgs of plastic waste had been collected in penalties from traders, he said.

By 2022 single-use plastic would be completely banned as per the directions of the government, the GHMC Commissioner said, and appealed to all traders and citizens to avoid single-use plastic items themselves even today.