In its bid to get the state to go plastic-free, the Government of Maharashtra is considering banning packaged water bottles in hotels, reports The Economic Times. This proposal is a part of first phase of the state’s plan to go completely without plastic by Gudi Padwa in March, with plastic bags being the other part of this phase.

A meeting was convened today (16 November) by Maharashtra Minister for Environment Ramdas Kadam. The state government has decided to delegate the responsibility of banning plastic bags and bottles to various municipal bodies. It also decided to cancel the licences of shops using plastics bags once the ban is in place. Officials, however said that while regulating larger shops was easy, dealing with small vegetable vendors and grocers would be difficult.

Officials said that the entire ban will be done over several steps, including holding district-wise meetings, creating awareness and amending laws. They also said that the government was mulling at providing incentives to self-help groups to manufacture cloth and jute bags in order to scale up their production.

Kadam said he was hopeful about meeting the Gudi Padwa target. Maharashtra had earlier banned plastic bags thinner than 50 microns following the 2005 floods that claimed a thousand lives. However, officials said that the ban was weak and that industrial outfits outside the state continued to supply them.