Malda: The district administration will enforce a ban on plastic bags below the thickness of 40 microns from August 1 and slap fines on those who violate the rule. Although the ban on plastic bags below 40 microns was notified by the state environment department on December 16, 2008, it has not been implemented strictly. Englishbazar municipality chairman Krishnendu Chowdhury, said: “Whenever there is rain many parts of the town become waterlogged as the drains are choked with waste, mainly plastic carry bags. We have spent around Rs 26 lakh to clean up the drains this year. During the exercise, we saw that a huge quantity of plastic bags had been choking the system. We have decided that plastic bags will be banned from August 1. A pollution charge of Rs 500 for traders and Rs 50 for other users will be imposed if the order is violated.” He added that the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce has been asked to carry out an intensive campaign across the district. “We have asked local clubs and NGOs to carry out an awareness programme in this respect,” Chowdhury said. Yesterday, the civic body took out a rally and several schoolchildren, senior officials of the district administration, NGOs and members of the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce took part in it. “The procession went around all the wards of the town to spread the message that from August 1 the use of plastic bags below 40 micron thickness was being banned,” Chowdhury added. District magistrate Archana said: “We need active participation of people, shopowners and traders’ bodies. We have already started an intensive awareness campaign so that the ban comes into force from August 1.” Jayanta Kundu, the president of the Malda Merchant’s Chamber of Commerce, said there were about a dozen plastic carry bag manufacturing units in the district. “We want the manufacturing of plastic bags to stop completely. Six new units that will make bags from discarded cloth have already come up in Malda. But it takes about a rupee to make a cloth bag while 40 paise to produce a plastic one. We appeal to the government to provide subsidies to the manufacturing units of cloth bags,” Kundu said.