Recently, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) initiated a massive drive to make the city clean and took several decisions to change the image of the city. The brain behind the concept was Mayor Balkrishna Shukla, who even received a pat on his back from the chief minister.

However, the issue of tackling plastic waste, which makes over four per cent of the total waste in the city, continued to remain unresolved.

Incidentally, the VMC has even stopped raiding shops at vegetable and fruit markets that are the main causes of concern. The officials at the Solid Waste Management Department admitted that the raids have not been carried out for months now.

“It practically yields no purpose, as days after the crackdown, the vendors and shopkeepers start using plastic bags. They are pressurised by the customers; and if they don’t give them the bags, they lose a number of customers,” said an official at the department.

The in-charge of the Solid Waste Management Department, Shailesh Naik, told Newsline: “We are well aware about the rampant use of plastic bags. While big stores give consumers plastic bags, which don’t flout the norms, the major problem is from the vegetable and fruit vendors across the city. To check the plastic bag use, we must first give the citizens some other alternative.”