mumbai day one of the plastic ban saw a drop in business as traders downed shutters in certain localities restaurateurs halted home delivery of liquids and waited along with milk and meat fish vendors for customers to turn up with vessels in malad east some 40 retail stores including 20 farsan shops rolled down shutters fearing inspector raj they will be shut on sunday and monday too shivji valaji shah who led the protest said should i sell farsan in paper bags in the monsoon at phoenix mills the franchise of a fast food chain had initially refused to pay the fine for using a plastic lid on glasses but later paid it some eateries were fined for using and storing plastic spoons containers and carry bags around 50 bmc officials landed at phoenix mills divided into five teams and searched almost all the outlets restaurants at dhobi talao and fort said that almost 50 of their home delivery business was hit as they had no solution for delivering hot gravy citizens were shocked to receive dry food items for home delivery as restaurants stopped delivering sambhar dal juice and pani puri ahar the indian hotel restaurant association which has over 8000 members said business had dropped by an average of 20 delivery aggregator swiggy asked restaurant partners to mark gravy items as out of stock or outlet shut the coincidental revival of the monsoon exposed the vulnerability of paper and cloth bags brown paper bags emit a foul smell that permeates food and tear if packed closely with other items large sizes are not available cloth can carry limited weight and neither variety is waterproof both are expensive garment retailers grain dealers and grocers avoided use of plastic carry bags but could not replace the pp bags that are used to package goods jo dikhta hai wohi bikta hai said a grocer in pali naka bandra are we expected to remove our shelves and change the layout to accommodate jute sacks of rice and wheat if we prepack grain or dal in paper bags how will customers see the variety or select what to buy sweetmeat sellers in mulund said they were finding it difficult to sell rabdi basundi gulab jamun and rasgulla in mulund dmart switched to paper bags for packaging foodgrains and pulsesplastic bags had to be deposited at the entrance buyers could choose foodgrains from jute bags or containers depending on price and quality said shopper ashwin sengupta mcdonalds announced it had switched to wooden cutlery and paper cups at vashi and nerul citizens were seen carrying their own cloth bags to buy vegetables and other items a vashi resident noted that at a few eateries in a prominent mall wooden spoons were given to customers meanwhile the bmc launched a twoday awareness drive for the 250 inspectors entrusted to implement the ban a threeday commercial exhibition for plastic alternatives is under way in worli on friday and saturday traders stormed the site and accosted