The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has developed a ‘Plasto Ban’ app to curb the growing menace of using banned plastic items across the city.
The app, developed in-house and used by the junior health officers of BBMP, will be launched in a week or two. The app will help in documenting plastic raids that the officers conduct on a regular basis at plastic manufacturers in the city or against those who use most plastic items.
“There is a ban on the use of plastic above 40 microns in the city, but many continue to use and sell it to customers. The civic body has already begun raids, but this app will help in documenting the raid, churning out a receipt for the penalty amount and also to document the entire process,” said Dr Sandhya, nodal officer, health and solid waste management, BBMP.
“The documentation process is important as it helps in keeping a track of whether the offender was penalised before or not. All junior health officers across 198 wards will be given the app. The app will also help in generating the bill of the penalty process,” she further explained.
In order to use the app, the officers have to wait for the BBMP to verify their credentials. “As the app is available in Play Store and people have access to it, the BBMP has a system to verify and validate the junior health officers,” said Manoranjan Hegde, chief health officer, BBMP.
The app also has provisions to include information like directions from the commissioner, penalty amount and circular from KSPCB regarding the usage of plastic, said N K Purohit, senior technical adviser, solid waste management, BBMP.
After banning the use of single-use plastic bottles in the city, this will be the next step that the civic body is taking to prevent the use of banned plastics in the city.