Nalini Ravichandran | ENS Chennai, A tough law that bans lighting up in public places has put smokers on notice. City Police Commissioner R Sekar intends to enforce the law sometime this week. Whether or not he manages to do so, at least a step has been taken in the right direction. Sadly, that cannot be said about another - perhaps even bigger - problem in the city: handling of disposable plastics. A plastic ban is already in place in Coimbatore and the Nilgiris. And as recently as three days ago, Chandigarh took steps to purge plastic bags. However, this city and the State Government appear to be comfortable with the indiscriminate disposal of plastics. The fact that it is not biodegradable, that it clogs sewage lines, chokes water bodies and is a health hazard apparently does not worry the ruling government in the State. How else does one explain the lack of a tough law to curb the plastic menace? It is not that a tough law was never attempted in the State. Six years ago, the spunky Sheela Rani Chunkath, the then chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), did the spadework for a Bill on plastics, which was tabled in the Assembly . But it was killed following strong opposition from the plastic lobby. So, what is the way out?