Vendors inside Writers’ Buildings. Five of them were arrested on Monday for selling tea in banned plastic cups. A Telegraph picture

The first shots in the war against plastic were fired at Writers’ Buildings on Monday, with shock arrests being carried out in the corridors of governance.

In an unprecedented crackdown, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government found five soft targets — vendors selling tea and coffee in banned plastic cups.

The use of cups and containers less than four inches in height and 40-micron thickness were banned at Writers’ in March 2004, following a directive from the central environment ministry.

It was high drama at high noon as two officers from the environment department, along with police, swooped on the five unsuspecting vendors, who were doing brisk business serving the babus in plastic cups, like any given Monday.

All five — Ekadashi Ramjit, Akhtar Hussain, Shankar Jana, Sambhu Ghosh and Manik Saha — were arrested and taken to Hare Street police station. Around 45 plastic cups were seized.

“All those arrested are hawkers. They have been booked under Section 188 of the IPC, which involves flouting an order promulgated by a public servant,” said Premabrata Majumdar, officer-in-charge, Hare Street police station.

The offence is bailable and punishable with a month’s imprisonment or a fine of Rs 200.

Justifying Operation Plastic, environment secretary M.L. Meena later said: “We have asked these hawkers repeatedly to stop using such cups. Around 15 days ago, we called them and told them to stop the practice. But they didn’t pay heed. Monday’s operation was the first of its kind.”

Environmentalist Subhas Dutta, however, scoffed at the government’s crackdown beginning at home. “Instead of tea-sellers, the government should take action against the manufacturers,” he said.