Despite, the ban on using Single Use Plastic (SuP) products, most of the city shopkeeper and retailers are barely bothering to obey such guidelines and still accustomed of selling or packing their goods in polythene bags and is not proving sufficient to eliminate polythene and plastic menace from Bhilai and Durg.

In order to make the city plastic-free, Bhilai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is continuously inspecting the market areas and shops and is taking action to confiscate banned plastic and single-use plastic as well as fine. While, the district administration and enforcement officials from civic authority are busy containing the plastic menace, wholesale dealers of plastic carry bags are using the opportunity to peddle the banned product among shopkeepers.

The incidence of plastic use is rampant in makeshift stalls, vegetable and other small shops with a heavy buyer footfall, thereby causing avoidable pollution risk.

Consequently, garbage heap accumulated with polythene and plastic waste can be seen at anywhere across the city. However, the BMC authority has already launched intensive raids and inspections of shops in all market places across the city and zone level special teams have been constituted to conduct raids both at the source as well as end use point of plastic bags. Be it vegetable market, provision store or any make-shift kiosk, such efforts are not showing any impact on shopkeepers.