The penalty for using Single Use Plastics (SUP) drinking water bottles below 20 litres at Government offices in Kohima district as well as Government programmes and meetings has been revised by the District Task Force and the flying squad team, DIPR has stated. This was decided during a joint coordination meeting held on July 2023 on the enforcement of the ban on SUP.

As per the revised penalty, fine for the 1st offense has been set at Rs. 5000, 2nd offense at 10000, and Rs 20000 for the 3rd offense. The ban on water bottles below 20 litres already exist in the district.

Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) was also advised to intensify the checking in the jurisdiction of Kohima to ban the use of SUP, and to encourage the use of paper carry bags.

The sub-divisions were also requested to initiate awareness programmes for sensitizing the masses and set up action plans to discourage the use of SUP. The meeting also decided to intensify the checking of the wholesale marketers and the printing press printing flex banners.