Crackdown on flex printing shops that use plastic

A total of 18,820 kilograms of flex was seized from all the eight zones on Friday. About 36 shops were shut and 10 were issued notices for using plastic to print flexes and banners.

Following orders from the Karnataka High Court, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad had informed joint commissioners and chief engineers of all eight zones on Friday to conduct raids on all flex printing units, and also file criminal cases against them and report to him later in the day. He had also sought the help of the Bangalore City Police department to help BBMP officials in this regard.

The east zone saw the highest number of closure as a total of 11 shops were shut down and as many as 8.5 tonnes of plastic was seized. Six shops were shut each in West, Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura zones. A total penalty of Rs 92,000 has been imposed on shops across all zones in the city.

Dr Suresh, district health officer, BBMP, who conducted raids in Binnypet, said that apart from flexes, about 550 tonnes of plastic was seized from Metro Cash and Carry Supermarket.

The drive is expected to continue as the Karnataka High Court has strictly directed the BBMP to curtail all activities that involve defacement of the city.

The Ramamurthy Nagar Police arrested four persons who roughed up BBMP officials on Thursday while removing flex and banners.

The accused have been identified as Rajendran, Simson, Kamalnath and Surya from Udayanagar. Two men, Santhosh and Saravana, are absconding.