After an awareness campaign held in Odisha for a month to ban the use of plastic bags, the government has taken the decision to ban polythene in six major cities of Odisha.
All the plastic items less than thickness of 50 micromax will be discontinued in Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Puri, and Berhampur.
Households that violate the rule the first three times will be in for a penalty of Rs. 200, 500 and 1000 or they may be liable for criminal proceedings as well.
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Shopkeepers will also fall under the rule, and those failing to abide will be fined Rs. 500, 1000 and 2000, and for restaurant owners, the fine amounts will be Rs. 1000, 2000 and 5000. If they fail to follow the rules after three warnings, they will be held for criminal proceeding or may even have their licences cancelled.
For hotels, higher fines will be implied of Rs. 2000, 10000 and 50000 and for commercial and industrial organizations, the fines can be anywhere between Rs. 2000 to 50000 depending on the scale of the organization.
(With inputs from ANI)