The act made it difficult to continue the manufacture of these bags and suggested punitive action for defaulters. Turns out the notification was a paper tiger. And a toothless one at that. A fact unashamedly admitted to by one of the very officials who drafted it. The BMC is the sole authority for enforcing the ban. But the corporation, being the monolith that it is, hasn't gotten its act together yet. The only measures taken so far are the distribution of a few anti-plastic bag posters and painting slogans on the sides of their garbage trucks. Meanwhile, tiny Nashik has beaten Mumbai to the ban. The city of ten million has already implemented a ban on thin plastic bags and has initiated several successful steps to curb the menace.A hemming and hawing BMC,which held its last meeting on the issue some two months ago, now has an excellent excuse for inactivity. The election model code of conduct which came into effect on July 11 prevents them from taking any decision.

So while the BMC awaits the formation of a new state government two months later, millions of the bags continue to be churned out of the seedy little factories. These bags continue to do what they do best after their single use. Choking refuse dumps, drains and railway tracks. In the absence of any enforcement, this notification too is slated to become another one of those well-meaning but ill-defined laws, joining a zoo full of paper animals in Mantralaya's bureaucratic maze.