Plastic flowers threaten Maharashtra's floral industry

Shiv Sena MLA Mahesh Shinde raised this issue in the Assembly, saying that artificial flowers are packed with harmful chemicals like titanium dioxide, which are dangerous for health. He further added that, like several European nations, Maharashtra should also ban plastic flowers.

The flower industry is badly affected due to the popularity of plastic flowers. In Satara there were once around 1,300 greenhouses growing flowers, but the number has reached less than 50. Verne village had 375 greenhouses; now the flower trade is almost finished.

The demand for artificial flowers is increasing in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, and Aurangabad; this has created a big question mark on the floral industry. Maharashtra occupies the top flower-producing state across the country due to a strong floriculture policy; unfortunately, fake flowers have now become a big threat to farmers’ livelihoods.

State floriculture minister Bharat Gogawale assured that a high-level meeting will be conducted soon with the Environment Ministry regarding this matter for the promotion of real flowers instead of plastic ones.