The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) will hold a State-wide meeting in Goregaon on Tuesday to decide on its final strategy and press for its demands in wake of the plastic ban.
According to the federation, the advisory committee headed by Praveen Pardeshi on June 20 had agreed to the use of most of the plastic packing at the retail level and of non-woven carry bags as an alternative to plastic bags of 60 GSM. Unfortunately, this has not yet not been cleared by the empowered committee headed by Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam. That committee is meeting on June 27,” FRTWA president Viren Shah said.
The main demands raised by the federation are that grocers be permitted to use plastic for packing, and the government should suggest an alternative to plastic bags during monsoon for the buyers’ convenience and safety of the product, Mr. Shah said.
FRTWA said retail business in three lakh stores in the State is down by 50%, and there was wastage of food due to the lack of plastic alternatives during monsoon.
The federation said over 2,000 kirana shops remained closed for the last two days fearing penalties.