TIRUCHY: The corporation recently held a meeting with major traders and hoteliers in the city over the issues faced from the continued use of plastic items, and informed them of an inspection drive kicking off on June 1. The street vendors, who could feel the heat of the intensified crackdown the most, express disappointment over the civic body not having included them in the discussion and lending an ear to their woes.
"Most vendors use the single-use plastic bags as they are the cheapest in the market. Unlike the major traders and hoteliers, we cannot charge the customers for bags as many of them aren’t willing to pay for them. Thus, we are forced to violate the law and source plastic bags. The corporation should consider the situation and give us a cheaper alternative for plastic bags at a subsidised rate," said Chempakam, an elderly vegetable vendor near Gandhi Market.
Velmurgan, a fruit seller near Chathiram bus stand, said, “Most customers are commuters and office goers. Many of them would not be carrying cloth bags and often ask to give the fruits and vegetables in plastic bags. So if the corporation inspection leads to a shortage in the supply of plastic bags, we would lose many such customers."
Marimuthu, who sells clothes on NSB Road, said, "We came to know of the consultation meeting with traders through media reports. We wonder why such a meeting was not held with vendors. We hope the Corporation considers our opinions before kicking off the inspection drive.”
Meanwhile, senior officials pointed out that the situation would change once the Corporation holds more inspections to seize banned plastic products. "The customers would start turning up with cloth bags or other eco-friendly bags once the traders and others stop giving them plastic bags. Though it would cause some inconvenience for a few days, the situation would change once we start holding regular inspections. The vendors can meet us any time and we would consider their issues. However, we would not drop our plan to stop the flow of plastic bags and other banned plastic products into the city," a senior corporation official said.