Flags of Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) states adorn key roads in Muscat as the city prepares for summit to be held on December 29 and 30.

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MUSCAT: Nine large supermarket chains in Oman, Al Fair, Carrefour, Khimji’s Mart, LuLu Hypermarket, Omanoil Quick Shops, Safeer Hypermarket, Select Stores, Souk Shops and Sultan Centre, have joined hands to help reduce the number of plastic grocery bags used in the country by signing an agreement with the Environment Society of Oman (ESO), according to a press release.

As part of the agreement, supermarkets have agreed to change their policies and not give out plastic bags to shoppers who have three items or less. In addition, check-out operators and packers will soon be asking customers to think twice before they accept plastic bags, and will encourage them to use reusable jute bags instead.

According to a recent survey, about six million plastic bags are used each month by supermarkets in the capital area alone, and retailers have agreed to reduce the overall environmental impact of their carrier bags starting from Jan. 8, 2009. (more)

Shun plastic bags. Fair enough. We need to do our bit to protect the environment. But what are the alternatives? Jute bags? They don’t come cheap, and same is the case with paper bags. Papers bags, unfortunately, will fit into ‘Muscat Pharmacy’ scheme of things, but not supermarkets, for a simple reason that it cannot withstand weight. Can the ordinary folks (labour class) afford jute bags for shopping? Why will they invest on an item just because campaign says so? How many of us would want to carry jute bags to supermarkets for every visit? I certainly won’t unless the supermarket refuses to allow me inside without one.

Somehow it is not in our psyche to carry bags for grocery shopping. Can you imagine a guy in Ferrari carrying a jute bag to Carrefour while at Muscat City Center? Certainly it is not going to happen. His style element will be nullified by that awful looking jute bag. Like they say, it is not ‘cool’ to carry one.

On the other hand, I am pretty impressed by the unity displayed by 9 supermarkets to join this campaign. Obliviously they are smiling because they can lower overheads by reducing plastic bags consumption, and also they can start selling jute bags. At the same breath, why the supermarkets are not proactive in passing on reduction in prices of essential commodities to the consumers. It is believed due to economic slowdown fears, wholesale prices have come down and the benefit in not passed on to consumer. Next time you are in a supermarket, checkout the prices of essential items, you might as well see a faint cut in prices.

I was surprised by his statement as I could hardly see a handful of Omanis in the waiting hall. Another cop told us to wait for 30 minutes before the counter were to open for expats, and at 7am, a person took us inside, sans tokens, and a super-efficient cop ensured that we got our renewed cards in less than 20 minutes. All is well that ends well. It would do a world of good if the Civil Status Center keeps in touch with the media with constant updates about its activities. Right now, there is utter confusion due to lack of information.

Sticking to the “cutting” theme, today Oman announced three days holidays for the government sector and a day’s holiday for the private sector. Some serious cut in holidays for private sector folks –– from four years I haven’t seen this kind of disparity. Somehow I thought Oman will shutdown during the AGCC meet to ease security concerns. None the less, it will be a nice feeling to start your new year (English calendar) with a holiday. And it will be a blessing in disguise for party animals who have ample time to ward off their new-year bash hangovers.

It is that time of the year which arrives once in two years – and yes, I am referring to renewal of my resident card. Well, I will have to embark on a third trip to Seeb Civil Status Center to get my card this time. Remember, earlier I had to go through a rather bumpy ride for my blood testing procedures too.

Take 1: Yesterday evening, knowing very well that the center would be open till 10pm, I landed at 8.15pm, only to be sent back by the folks manning the token counter. “Maafi, counter close,” he said and pointed to a large number of people who were still waiting with tokens in hand. Timings are timings; they don’t care to service people by working for a few extra hours. Cursing my luck, I returned home.

Take 2: Today morning I am back at the counter by 8.15am, and got the token as well. There were scores of expats, and I decided to wait for my turn patiently, knowing very well it would take not less than two hours for my turn to arrive. At around 9.30am, crowds started swelling and by all counts there were more than 400 people waiting for their cards today. Soon the cops at the token counter said their system had conked off, and those waiting for token should come back on Saturday. 300 disappeared into thin air. Those having token need not worry, they assured. Still there is standstill; no one is called inside. The same old token numbers are being displayed at the counters for more than 30 minutes. All of a sudden at 10.30am, a police officer comes and says, “Sorry, system down, come Saturday.” I was disappointed. Two failed attempts in two days, quite a record I thought. By the way, the counter for Omanis was perfectly working, no ‘system down’ worries for them.

I fail to understand why a system failure at 10.30am should stall proceedings for the entire day. Don’t they have guys to fix those issues? It is sad for 400 expats who came all the way to return empty handed. Who cares for the labourer who spent RO5 as taxi fare for this futile trip? Remember these poor labourers are treated shabbily by security chaps at the center. I saw a cop pushing and shoving a labourer today. Why there is no accountability?

I know I won’t get an answer.