pune people including retailers will be penalized for carrying banned plastic material from june 23 rs 5000 on the first occasion and rs 10000 the second time thirdtime offenders will be prosecutedsuresh jagtap head of the pune municipal corporation pmcs solid waste management department told toi citizens got an exemption of three months from the ban from the high court from june 23 the ban will be implemented if the court order on june 22 does not bring in any changes besides imposing penalty on people possessing the banned items we will undertake search operations to check from where the plastic is coming into the garbage binsthe civic body will deploy a team of 120 inspectors in all its wards to check the use of plastic from june 23 officials stated that citizens or ngos could inform pmc about the use of plastic in their areas after which it would send inspectors to the spot to fine the defaultersjagtap said though pmc was not authorized to conduct searches in houses of citizens their inspectors would conduct raids in the citys markets to seal banned plastic items the defaulters would be penalized subsequently and a challan would be issuedestablishments like retail shops clubs cinemas theatres marriage halls restaurants and malls among others would be under the scanner though the retailers and other people were expected to hand over the banned plastic items to the civic body for scientific disposal or recycling but we have received just around six tonnes of the banned products so far the rest are expected to be sealed during inspections he saidhe said ngos environment groups mohalla committees and citizens in favour of the ban were roped in to help the civic body in the implementation of the banpeople can inform pmc about rule violators over phonejagtap said if anybody sees someone using a banned item heshe can call the pmcs tollfree number to notify iton march 23 the maharashtra government banned the manufacture sale and use of plastic bags disposable plastic spoons forks cups glasses containers pet bottles of less than 500ml and thermocol for decoration through a notification the ban was brought under the maharashtra nonbiodegradable garbage control act enacted in 2006on april 11 it modified the rules and allowed pet bottles of all capacity made of high quality food grade virgin bisphenola free material with a predefined buyback policy printed on it in april the high court had refused to stay the ban but asked the state not to launch prosecution against individual persons for three months the plastic ban is therefore slated for enforcement from june 23the maharashtra pollution control board mpcb has issued a notification to the manufacturers saying that the recycling and buyback prices should be prominently printed on petpete bottles and plastic bags permissible under the ban however manufacturers are still awaiting the high court order on june 22 after which their next plan of action would be clear an mpcb official said