A month after notifying the blanket ban on plastic bags, the city government is focusing on awareness rather than enforcement of the ban. The city government will seek the cooperation from different traders association in the city to implement the ban on the use of plastic bags.
“We do not want any crackdown or penalise any offender immediately. All we want is the people to know about the dangers of using plastic carry bags. We are in a process of sending letters to the traders associations of the prominent markets of Delhi, like South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar etc. We are also promoting the shopkeepers to put a board in front of their shops mentioning that they are not using plastic bags. We curbed the use of plastic bags during this trade fair only through continuous announcements,” said a senior Delhi government official.
The official further said that the plastic carry bags are already banned in all malls in the city.
On November 23, the city government had issued notices to at least 100 plastic bags manufacturers to shut down the production within 15 days.
The officials said that they are planning to execute the ban this time more precisely as the last ban, which was implemented in year 2009, was not successful.
“We are going from top to bottom in the business of plastic bags. First we are targeting the manufacturers to cut the supply line of plastic bags in the city. Cutting of supply line will directly affect the storage of the bags and simultaneously we will crackdown the import of the bags from other neighbouring states. After clearing the large-scale business, we will target on the small-scale shopkeepers,” said a senior Delhi government official.
The city government did not include the production of plastic bags in the previous ban which led to the failure of the initiative to ban use of plastic bags.