Use of plastic gloves worries activists Updated: Updated: ‘Sanitisers could’ve been given after poll’ Share Article ‘Sanitisers could’ve been given after poll’ Consumer activists have questioned the rationale behind the use of tonnes of extremely thin plastic gloves during the April 6 voting for the Assembly election. They said that though the use of plastics less than 50 micron for medical purposes is not banned, this is still an abuse of the ban on plastics implemented in the State. “It took us a year to come even close to bringing some discipline. The government forced some 140 units making single-use plastic bags to close down. They made people buy cloth bags and use them. Big shops, too, converted after much persuasion. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, all that went down the drain. And the election happened and all that the government could think of was single-use plastic gloves. They could have provided us with sticks or something wooden. After all, the number [of voters] is really huge — six crore,” said consumer activist T. Sadagopan.