Bouquet with plastic wrapping 'costs' civic official Rs 5,000

A civic official in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city, who went to greet the new municipal commissioner on taking charge on Monday, ended up receiving a Rs 5,000 fine as his welcome bouquet had plastic wrapping.

Indian Administrative Service officer Astik Kumar Pandey took charge as Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) commissioner and head of the civic body's urban development department chief, Ramchandra Mahajan, was one of the many colleagues who came to wish him good luck.

"However, the flower bouquet that Mahajan gave the commissioner had plastic wrapping at the base. Pandey asked his officials from the Solid Waste Management department to recover a fine of Rs 5,000 from Mahajan on the spot," said an official.

The fine receipt was widely circulated on social media later.

Pandey was unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.

Government offices across the country have been making efforts to ban single-use plastic items from their premises after a call for their elimination was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech this year.

In June last year, the Maharashtra government imposed a ban on a variety of plastic products, including single-use disposable items, and started penalising all those found using them.

It banned manufacturing, use, sale, distribution and storage of plastic materials such as bags, spoons, plates and other disposable items. The ban also included packaging material and thermocol.