The Ministry of Population and Environment on Thursday carried out an inspection in Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market, and retail shops at Kalimati in the Capital to check on the adherence to ban the use of plastic bags with a thickness of below 40 microns.

The monitoring team comprising of government officials and police personnel and led by Narayan Raj Timilsina, chief of Department of Environment Management under the ministry, confiscated 322 kilograms of plastic bags from six retail shops found violating the ban.

Marking the Nepali New Year on April 14, 2015, the government declared Kathmandu Valley a polythene-bag-free zone but the decision was soon amended to put ban on plastic bags with thickness below 40 microns only. However, enforcement of the ban has been weak inside the Valley so far.

In recent times, the department has reinitiated the inspection monitoring in various places and started confiscating plastic bags found violating the ban and taking action against the shopkeepers and retailers selling such bags.

As per the existing law, anyone found selling, distributing, using and storing plastic bags with thickness below 40 microns are subjected to a fine of Rs 50,000.