The month-long drive yielded penalty amounting to ₹67,020
More than 600 persons were booked for smoking in public, mostly in roadside tea stalls, in Mysuru during a month-long drive against cigarette and other tobacco products.
The Mysuru District Tobacco Control Cell, which carried out the drive along with the assistance of local police, booked 606 persons for smoking in public and collected penalty amounting to ₹67,020.
A fine amount of ₹200 was collected from each violator under Section 4 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003, also known as COTPA, which prohibits smoking in public.
Though the Act provides for smoking area or smoking zone in premises having a seating capacity of more than 30 persons, consultant of Mysuru District Tobacco Control Cell Shivakumar told The Hindu that no roadside tea stall they inspected had a seating capacity of more than 30 persons and no separate smoking zone was found. Tea shops are also public places and, hence, smoking at a roadside tea stall was found to be violative of Section 4 of COTPA 2003, he said.
Sale to minors
As many as 354 cases have been booked against sale of cigarette to persons who are below the age of 18.
Under Section 6A of COTPA 2003, no person shall sell cigarette and other tobacco products to people under 18 years of age. A total of ₹38,500 was collected for selling cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors.
Thirteen shops or points of sale were booked for selling cigarettes and other tobacco products within a radius of 100 metres of an educational institution. A penalty amounting to ₹2,600 was collected, he said.
A total of 973 cases were booked under different Sections of COTPA 2003 and total of ₹1,05,220 was collected during the drive, which began on July 13 and concluded on August 6, said Mr. Shivakumar. “By conducting such drives, our aim is to make Mysuru a high-compliance district as far as COTPA is concerned,” he said.
The Cell distributed free of cost 354 signages, which should be mandatorily displayed in the premises of shops selling cigarettes or other tobacco products. The signages seek to warn the public against smoking in public places and sale of cigarettes to minors.
Though the focus of the enforcement was against smoking in public, the personnel involved in the drive also ensured that advertisement boards of tobacco products, particularly cigarettes, that were displayed in the shops were removed. Section 5 of COTPA Act prohibits advertisement of tobacco poducts.
Mr. Shivakumar said they came across sale of several illegal cigarettes. One box of illegal cigarettes was seized from a shop in Lakshmipuram police station limits. The shop owner was forced to burn the illegal cigarettes and he was let off with a warning that he will be booked if he repeats the offence.
The Mysuru District Tobacco Control Cell will next week begin an enforcement drive in the taluks of Mysuru district, he added.
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