Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Harish Kumar K. said on Thursday that the officials lacked the morale to implement the ban on plastic that was imposed with much fanfare on November 15.

When it was pointed out during a “meet-the-press” programme here that the ban was not even being implemented in malls, Mr. Kumar attributed it to the squads being diverted to Kukke Subramanya but later said that a complaint lodged against officials that stated plastics had been “robbed” by them after a raid had affected the morale of the officials. A case was pending in the Karnataka High Court regarding the ban, he said.