Approximately two months after the Central government imposed a ban on single-use plastic from July 1 across India, vegetable and fruit markets in Lucknow are swamped with polythene.
Fruit and vegetable sellers in both small and big mandis in the city markets are openly selling their ware in polythene bags, while their customers are all too happy with the convenience that comes with not having to carry a cloth shopping bag around.
At the Dubagga Mandi, one of the biggest wholesale markets of the city, children in the 12-15 years age group can be seen selling polythene bags, going from vendor to vendor. “The plastic ban doesn’t exist here; it’s only on paper,” said one of the vendors in the market wishing anonymity.
Interestingly, the Dubagga police station is situated at the main gate of the market.
“We often shoo them away but they come back again. We can’t take action against them as they are small, poor children,” said Ajay Kumar Bajpai, Mandi Sahayak at the Dubagga Mandi.
“The district administration is itself overlooking the matter. Why are they not closing the factories, and cancelling the plastic makers’ licence? We have even run a campaign a month back and our vendors had stopped keeping it, but it is back again due to the laxity of the administration,” he added.
Similarly, every vegetable seller can be seen selling vegetables in polythene carry bags at Tedhi Pulia Mandi near Vikas Nagar. When asked about it, one of the sellers said, “Customers don’t buy vegetables without polythene bags. Hence, we’re forced to keep them.”
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, every vegetable seller can be seen selling vegetables in polythene carry bags at Tedhi Pulia Mandi near Vikas Nagar. When asked about it, one of the sellers said, “Customers don’t buy vegetables without polythene bags. Hence, we’re forced to keep them.”
{{/usCountry}}Another seller said, “We can’t stop keeping it until its manufacturing stops. Why is the administration after us? They should first take action against the manufacturer. Action against us hits our livelihood. They must also come up with a substitute which is as cheap as plastic.”
Currently, polythene bags are being sold at different prices in different markets. A packet containing many polythene bags of size 13x16 cm weighing 200-250 grams is being sold at ₹40 in the market. The packet also has a make-in-India logo on its back.
“The polythene bags are being sold in the market by some vendors. They don’t inform us anything about its origin. We urge them to not buy plastics, but they have no choice,” said Anuj Shukla, manager, Tedhi Pulia Mandi.
He also mentioned a special shop outside the mandi premises that sells polythene bags in the morning market. Several vendors reported that the shop owner arrives early in the morning, sells his stock by 8 am, and then closes before it gets noticed.
The conditions are the same at city meat shops and roadside open vegetable/fruit markets. Polythene bags have replaced cloth bags, which had only been used for a short time.
Very few vendors were seen using polythene bags at the Naveen Galla mandi situated on Sitapur Road. A raid was conducted on Monday morning by a team of Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) after getting information about the sale of polythene bags openly in the market. But a very small portion of polythene was found on the spot when the team reached there, a senior official of LMC said.
Renu Verma, secretary, Mandi Parishad was unavailable in the office as well as on the phone, to offer comment.
On being asked about the polythene coming back into the markets, Pankaj Singh, additional municipal commissioner said,” LMC will act tough against those who are still using banned polythene.”
“Enough time was given to traders in the markets to dispose of their stock and not to buy anew. We’ll look into this,” he added.