The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoSTE) said it has identified 14 plastic bag retailers and has initiated action against four of them.
The four facing action have been identified as Rocky Plastic Store, Thanapani Traders operating at Prayagpokhari in Lalitpur, Aagan Plastic Store, Kamalpokhari and Dhurbaraj Timilsina, a local.
The monitoring team has seized 15 kg of substandard plastic bags from Rocky Plastic Store, 25 kg from Thanapati Traders, 90 kg from Aagan Plastic Store and 25 kg from Timilsina.
As per the report of MoSTE, Rocky Plastic Store has been fined Rs 5000, Rs 10,000 for Thanapati Traders, and Rs 20,000 for Aagan Plastic Bags. However, Timsina has been only cautioned against selling plastic bags.
Officials said they were fined after taking permission from the Prime Ministers' Office.
Likewise, Adhikari Plastic Store at Kalimati, Raju Plastic Pasal at Bangaymuda, Regmi Plastic Traders at Kalimati, R K Marketing at Asan, Saleways Department Store at Jawalakhel, Kantipur Plastic Suppliers at Machapokhari, N K Plastic Traders, Kanchan Plastic Traders at Koteshwar and New R K Suppliers at Lagankhel and its other branch office at New Road have also been booked for using and selling plastic bags.
They will face action in line with the Environment Protection Act 1997, according to MoSTE officials. Section 18 of the Act provides that anyone violating the act is liable to a fine of up to Rs 50,000.
According to MoSTE, 1090 kg of plastic bags have been seized from 2608 shops and outlets from various areas of the Kathmandu Valley. Eight government teams had monitored the marked from July 30 to August 17 to check the use of plastic bags.
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