PANCHKULA: The municipal corporation will start a challan drive to check pollution in the city from next week. The drive will mainly focus on the use of polythene bags.
A team, which is yet to be finalized, will keep a tab on the violations in Industrial Area and pollution caused by showrooms and hotels.
"We will check all the major violations in the city which cause soil and air pollution," said a senior MC officer.
"Our main concern is to stop the use of plastic bags. Fines will be imposed on the defaulters. The fine amount will depend on the thickness of polythene bags," he added.
Earlier, issuance of such challans was the responsibility of the pollution department, but now the civic body will perform the job.
"There was much confusion earlier as it was not clear where the collected amount should be deposited. So, later it was decided that MC officials will keep the collected money in their treasury and also impose the fines," said a senior officer of the pollution department.
About allegations that no challans were issued this year, he said, "We had sought the challan book from the civic body many a time as we were ready to conduct raids and impose fines. But despite various reminders, it neither gave us the challan book nor issued these to defaulters."
However, deputy mayor Sunil Talwar said, "We could not issue challans earlier as we had other significant tasks on hand. But now, we will start the drive within seven days."
