A Special Enforcement Team will be constituted to enforce ban on single use plastic, in Mysuru.
| Photo Credit: SRIRAM MA
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has mandated that a special enforcement team (SET) be constituted for Mysuru for the effective implementation of ban on single use plastic (SUP) in the city and surrounding areas.
A decision to this effect was taken in the last week of September and though the Board wanted the enforcement team to be in place during Dasara, the notification came much later by when Dasara had already been inaugurated.
The KSPCB has stated that a District-level Task Force under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner was already in place, but it was not functioning effectively and violations of the SUP ban continued to be reported from various parts of the district.
The issue was also discussed and deliberated in the 255th board meeing held in September and it was decided to constitute a SET to ensure effective implementation of the ban on SUP notified under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, and subsequent amendments, in Mysuru city and surrounding areas.
What the SET will do
The SET, once constituted, will monitor the city, Chamundi Hills, Mysuru Palace premises and other high footfall zones with periodic review meetings.
The SET is expected to carry out regular patrol on a daily basis within the jurisdiction of the MCC, Mysuru taluk, and other surrounding areas and will be empowered to confiscate the banned SUP materials.
It is also expected to attend to public complaints and conduct visits across urban and rural areas under its jurisdiction and will be empowered to seize banned SUP from manufacturers, traders and vendors.
All seized SUP materials have to be handed over by the MCC to plastic waste processors authorised by the KSPCB and a compliance report will be submitted to the Board. The SET is also supposed to take up awareness through IEC in coordination with KSPCB and MCC to promote alternatives.
Karnataka struggles with plastic menace despite ban
Despite a ban that has been in place for years, banned plastics continue to dominate daily life. Like other States in India, Karnataka is struggling with the single-use plastic menace, fuelled both by civic indifference and the lucrative profits for industries producing it.
| Video Credit:
The Hindu
Constitution of SET
The constitution of SET entails engaging an ex-serviceman, deployment of one marshal, procuring a dedicated vehicle with driver, with fuel provided by KSPCB among others.
Incidentally, NGOs in the city including Mysore Grahakara Parishat, had mooted the idea of constituting a task force in multiple meetings conducted by the authorities over the years. The urgency stemmed from the flagrant violations of the law pertaining to the use of SUP and also littering in public places.
Sources in the KSPCB said though the circular mandating the constitution of an SET has been issued, the subject and the modalities of implementation were yet to be discussed with the Deputy Commissioner, MCC Commissioner and other concerned departments of the Government.
It is likely that the issue will be taken up for discussion on Monday (October 13, 2025) when the officials led by the Deputy Commissioner, meet to deliberate the programmes to be held to mark the golden jubilee of constituting the KSPCB.
Published – October 12, 2025 05:18 pm IST
