Gowriamma graciously accepted the cloth bag that Mayor K. Chandrika gave her with the hope that the city Corporation would this time keep the anti-plastic campaign alive and not abandon it mid-way.
“It is a good thing, but there is still a lot to be done,” said the vendor, who has been selling vegetables at the Palayam Market for the past 30 years.
Mayor, Deputy Mayor, G. Happykumar, along with few ward councillors, traversed through the age-old market spreading the word against the use of plastic carry bags. ,” she said.
“As we are just starting this campaign, we are, very politely, approaching shoppers and vendors and urging them to use alternatives. In time, we will see how the general reaction is and then step up measures to make it even stricter,” she said, adding she hoped that the government would respond to the civic body’s request soon on the imposition of a ban.
While the procession made its way to various stores, stopping and speaking to Sunday morning shoppers to abandon the use of plastic bags, a hiccup came in the form of a shopper who accused the Mayor of not having made progress in dealing with waste. “ There is little success we can achieve without the government’s support and the people’s. If the public rubbishes even these steps, then plastic will only continue accumulating,” retorted the Deputy Mayor.
Foreigners, too, joined the cause, with couple of them requesting for a cloth bag from the Mayor to carry out their shopping.
Gowriamma cautioned that there were plenty of traders at Chala market who sell plastic bags to vendors. “They know that we need it. We cannot sell vegetables in newspapers. They will get soggy. If as the Corporation promises, Kudumbashree units are being deployed to produce more, and then it will work,” she said.
