``We have the legal framework in place, the only question is the implementation,'' Environment Secretary Pramod Deo told Express Newsline. Last week, the environment department wrote letters to the BMC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce the notification. The department sees the BMC's ward officers and the FDA's food inspectors as the on-the-ground enforcers of this notification.

According to R P Chitravanshi, Chief Engineer of the BMC's Solid Waste Management, the BMC was taking action on the notification. ``We have circulated the notification amongst our ward officers and told them that this condition should be inserted whenever licences of shops and establishments come up for renewal.'' Renewals usually happenned in December, he said.

The notification was cleared by the state cabinet as early as February and onMarch 8, the environment department issued a notification `banning' plastic bags thinner than 20 microns, but did not specify the agency that was to implement the ban. The notification covers all the towns and cities in the state.

``In its present form, the notification is toothless,'' admits a state government official. ``We need to start a public education campaign to make people aware of the harmful effects of the bags and also stop them at the source.''

The notification cites Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act for regulating the sale, production and supply of the thin guage plastic bags stating that the use of the bags was detrimental to the environment and the health of human beings as well as animals.

The notification directs all manufacturers to discontinue the production of polythene carry bags less than 20 microns for new bags and 25 microns for recycled bags. The use of pigments has been banned in the case of recycled bags. Bags with a minimum thickness of 20 microns for packing,handling, storing and carrying food products can use only virgin materials in their natural colours without the addition of dyes and pigments. This is where the FDA and its inspectors step in, says Deo.

But state government officials who spoke to Express Newsline say that in addtion to stopping the manufacture of these thin bags, the BMC Act too needs to be modified to include the non-use of the bags in the licenses of petty vendors.