Plastic Ban: REALLY???
Watermelons publicly being sold in plastic bags!!!
Mulund: It’s the summer season! Mumbaikars are facing the summer heat by eating the luscious watermelon which is Nature’s best gift to beat the tropical summer thirst. The sale of watermelons is thus on the rise. But, what is irksome is that fruit sellers are fearlessly selling watermelons in the ‘prohibited’ plastic bags!!! Only a handful can be seen serving in paper plates!!!
Readers may recall, the Maharashtra government had imposed its ambitious ‘Plastic Ban’ a year ago. But, alas, even today, the ban is limited on just paper while the citizens, vendors and shop-keepers are boldly using plastic bags and making a mockery of the so-called Plastic Ban! In Mulund, the hawkers are daringly using plastic bags without any fear of the BMC officials! What is more shameful is that these hawkers are purchasing the plastic bags in wholesale from the dealers in Mulund market itself!
It is true that watermelon is a delight to quench thirst during summer, but purchasing an entire watermelon is a little expensive. Hence, to make things easy and inexpensive, clever watermelon vendors in Mulund are selling few slices of watermelon for Rs. 10/-. Being economical, there is a huge demand to buy these watermelons which are being served in ‘prohibited’ plastic bags!!
While the citizens are enjoying these watermelons, they are forgetting that they are inviting trouble as the plastic bags are a major threat to the eco-system like the plastic water balloons during the Holi festival. Fortunately, some eco-friendly NGOs collect these plastic water balloons after the Holi festival. But, who will collect the that the citizens dump on the roads after eating the delicious watermelon? The result? Clogging of drainage and floods during monsoon!!!
According to the citizens, the BMC was quite strict and vigilant in the early days. Pictures of BMC charging penalty went viral on the social media and this generated fear among the people and vendors. Hence, last year, it was observed that people carried steel utensils or tiffin boxes or cloth bags to buy watermelons. But, alas, later BMC became a little lenient and this mercy wiped out the impact of the ban! Hence, this year people are boldly selling watermelons in plastic bags without any fear, while the consumers also have no fear of the administration.
Home Times, in its survey, found watermelons being sold fearlessly in plastic bags at many prominent roads of Mulund like RRT Road, J.N. Road, Zaver Road, Mulund Colony, Tambe Nagar an, S.L Road. In fact, even in Mulund East, vendors are daringly selling watermelon in plastic bags. When Home Times asked a vendor at Veena Nagar about the plastic ban, he innocently said, “Ban, what ban? Plastic bags are being sold everywhere and everybody is using plastic bags. Hence, even I am selling!”
When Home Times confronted BMC Encroachment Squad, the concerned officials said that they were quite active on the plastic ban in the beginning, but due to the forthcoming election duty, they are tied up and cannot focus on the ban.
