The reaction of the shopkeepers to the State Government-imposed ban on the use of polythene, plastic, thermocol and the like, is mixed. While some have termed it a good move which should be executed strictly on the ground others have said that paper bags cannot be substitutes for the bags made of the banned materials. Meanwhile, teams have been formed under the instruction of Garhwal Commissioner to inspect on the ground whether the banned items are still being used and if so to slap the violators with penalties.
Surendra Batra, a trader whose shop is located in the vicinity of Clock Tower, said that it is a good initiative which needs to be rightly executed on the ground. “We wonder whether the civic body and the police would be serious in its execution or they would allow things to get back to the square one through a laidback attitude.
If executed rightly, it would not just boost the business of those engaged in making cloth bags to substitute the plastic bags but it would also save environment and the bovines which get ill and even die after they consume polythene,” he said.
However, another trader Mahavir Singh who has his shop in Nehru Colony area of the city said that the move would end up in a fiasco as elsewhere.
“Those who order such ban should understand our plight. The customers themselves ask for polythene/plastic bags while refusing to take items they buy in paper bags. The latter cannot bear the weight of heavy items bought. What can we be expected to doIJ Should we turn out the customersIJ We must oblige them even at the risk of being made to pay fines,” he said.
Some traders said that the ban can yield the desired result only if the production of the banned items is stopped at its source-the units which manufacture them. “The people must be left with no option but to carry bags with them to take the purchased items home,” said a trader who runs his business from Curzon Road. Dalanwala.
The municipal corporation officials said that they have been carrying on with the anti-plastic drives relentlessly for over a week and it would continue with the same vigour in the coming days.
A civic body official claimed that they have seized plastic/polythene/thermocol weighing around 23 kgs in a few days and about Rs 17000 has been collected in the form of penalties slapped on the violators.
A senior civic body official who is leading the drives from the front Neeraj Joshi said that things are looking up now with the drives going on in full swing. “We are sparing none for violating the order. However, such drives can hardly be enough. This must become a full-blown people’s movement.
The people must come out to support the cause of the environment. We expect the students to take a leading role in this anti-plastic movement,” he added.