Violating plastic ban to be fined upto Rs 25K

Tirupati: From Friday onwards, traders violating plastic ban in Tirupati will have to pay a maximum fine of Rs 25,000, besides losing their trade license.The Municipal Corporation of Tirupati, which has given one month time for the traders in the city to fall in line after implementing the plastic ban in the temple town on October 2, has decided to toughen its stance and stringently enforce it hereafter.

Being a pilgrim town, where the floating population is anywhere between 40 to 50 per cent of the actual population, Tirupati generates a significant quantity of plastic waste. Most of the plastic waste is discarded water bottles.

In order to reduce the use of plastic water bottles, the municipal corporation is contemplating setting up water kiosks at every 500 metres in Tirupati and similar measures will be taken at Tirumala by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams to curb pollution.

The municipal corporation authorities are planning to ban the use of plastic bottles once the water kiosks and related infrastructure are in place in the temple town to curb environmental pollution.