It’s not ‘fine’, CCP tells three Panaji vendors

PANAJI: Finally, cracking down on violators, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) for the very first time on Tuesday imposed fines on three vendors for dispensing plastic carry bags to customers.

Surprise checks were conducted and the first violator, an ice vendor, was booked around 7am and fined Rs 5,000. In the afternoon, a chicken and fish vendor were each slapped with the same amount after they were caught selling food items in plastic bags.A total of 10kg of plastic bags were confiscated from vendors in the market.
While the corporation has been confiscating plastic bags over the past few months, it did not impose fines on violators till now.
The surprise raid was conducted by the chairman of the market committee, Uday Madkaikar, who was accompanied by a market inspector and supervisor. Madkaikar said the raids would continue on Wednesday too.
Mayor Vithal Chopdekar said the fine would be doubled for repeat offenders. He said the CCP has conducted enough awareness among vendors with regard to the ban on plastic bags.
The decision to impose a fine of Rs 5,000 on vendors violating the ban was taken at the CCP council meeting held last Friday where councillors felt this would be a strong deterrent to prevent the rampant use of plastic bags, which are carelessly discarded and end up clogging the city’s drains.
Chopdekar said CCP is in talks with a vendor who will be provided with a space at the Panaji market to sell shopping baskets that can especially be used to carry fish and meat products.