Acting swiftly on the directions of Forest Minister Chowdhary Lal Singh, the State Control Board intensified its drive against the illegal sale and use of polythene bags and conducted extensive raids in Jammu city and seized about 1000 kg of polythene carry bags.The raids were conducted by a joint team of officers from Divisional Offices of Jammu and Samba under the supervision of Regional Director Shaukat Choudhary. The Board imposed heavy fines and penalties on violators as per prescribed Acts and Rules.Pertinently, the board has specifically allowed the manufacturing, sale and use of only those polythene bags that are above the thickness of 50 microns and are properly stamped and labeled by the manufacturers with registration numbers allotted to them by the board. Polythene above 50 microns can go through the process of recycling and may be used again in one form or the other.Taking strong notice, the State Government has already authorized various departments to seize the illegal polythene material and take necessary action as per the norms.Regional Director appealed the people in general and business community in particular to desist from using banned polythene materials. He asked the public to contribute their part in the initiative to save the environment. As a civil society, public must realize their responsibility to help in keeping the environment clean and stop using and selling the banned polythene materials to safeguard the water bodies, he asserted. More such raids will be carried out in future, he added.