KARACHI, Feb 18: In a bid to curb usage of polythene bags in the metropolis, the city government has decided to impose fine and arrest all those wholesalers and shopkeepers found violating the ban.

The city government officers having magisterial powers would conduct raids on wholesale and retail outlets.

City Nazim Mustafa Kamal said that the government had enforced an ordinance against use of polythene bags.

He asked wholesalers and retailers to avoid using plastic bags voluntarily and appealed to the masses not to use them, as polythene bags could not be dissolved in even 1,000 years and damaged city’s sewerage system and caused environmental pollution.

He said that the city government was spending Rs15 billion to improve water and sewerage network of the city but these plastic bags damaged the sewerage lines.

He asked citizens to own the city and cooperate with the city government in the uplift of the metropolis.