Traders say they will move court
The plastic bag ban appears to be spinning out of control as the influential traders’ community, which fanned successful protests against the sealing drive and held the city to ransom through riots a couple of years ago has joined hands with the 2000-odd plastic manufacturers to take on the Govt, reports Avishek G Dastidar.
The plastic bag ban appears to be spinning out of control as the influential traders’ community, which fanned successful protests against the sealing drive and held the city to ransom through riots a couple of years ago has joined hands with the 2000-odd plastic manufacturers to take on the government.
Confederation of All India Traders, President Preveen Khandelwal said the traders’ body was weighing legal options to move Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order that made the government implement the ban.
“The 10,000-strong traders’ community in Delhi will take this issues to its logical end. The Supreme Court appears to be our only option if the government fails us,” Khandelwal told Hindustan Times after a protest march in Central Delhi on Wednesday.
This was the first of the series of marches and demonstrations the traders’ body along with associations of plastic manufacturers and dealers plan to unleash in city.
The traders have scheduled a meeting with the brass of Delhi environment department, including Environment Secretary JK Dadoo on January 29. “We want to communicate to the government our concerns and the impact of the ban on us. We are not against banning plastic, but this is not the way,” he said.
A confrontation is imminent with an estimated loss of business supposedly running into hundreds of crores along with massive loss of employment due to the ban. The government is is not willing to budge either. “We will initiate dialogue with the traders but as far as implementing the ban is concerned, there will be no going back. The Pollution Control Committee has already started its inspections at business units,” said a spokesman.