Plastic carry bags still in use despite ban

Amit Bathla
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, August 19

Over a month after Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal asked the district administration to ensure ban on the use of plastic carry bags, shopkeepers in major markets such as Kikar Bazaar, Sirki Bazaar and Gandhi Market told The Tribune that they don’t keep these anymore.

According to them, it’s been a month or so that the situation with regard to the use of plastic carry bags seems uncompromising as the authorities are keeping an eye on it. However, it can’t be termed as a total blanket ban as visits to these markets found that bags were still in use. Though shopkeepers were hesitating to admit the very fact openly.

Shopkeepers and customers while talking to The Tribune praised the government’s decision, saying that they would soon find an alternative to polythene bags. Not only these pose serious environmental threats, but the same also cause blockages in the sewerage system, which leads to waterlogging in many low-lying areas during rains.

On the other hand, a few shopkeepers said they were facing difficulty in finding alternative bags. Shyam Lal, owner of a general store in Kikar Bazaar, said: “It’s a good decision. Such initiatives take time to implement. It’s been more than a month that shopkeepers have stopped keeping polythene bags in their stores.”

He said he saw many customers bringing their handbags to his shop.

Another shopkeeper in Gandhi Market said: “The use of polythene bags among shopkeepers has gone down drastically. In major markets, this could be up to 90 per cent.” Contrarily, the situation was totally different in shops located in residential colonies, far away from major markets. A general store shopkeeper in Vishal Nagar, on the condition of anonymity, said: “We heard that there was a ban on plastic carry bags, but we have no idea to get rid of the same as there was no alternative.”

Despite several attempts, Ravi Kumar, SDO, Punjab Pollution Control Board, could not be contacted for his comments on the issue.

‘No-Plastic’ movement is gradually picking pace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi denouncing the use of plastic carry bags. Recently, the PM had urged shopkeepers to sell jute and cloth bags.