NEW DELHI: J amia Millia Islamia may have taken the bold step of making its campus smoke-free without much ado, but creating much smoke on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus these days is a "mild attempt" that never quite took off.

Eager to reduce the use of tobacco on the campus, the University's Campus Development Committee (CDC) at its recent meeting had floated a proposal to "request'' kiosk owners in the campus to shift to selling products other than tobacco. Only, the committee decided just as quickly to defer it.

The proposal would have meant that kiosks that have been selling cigarettes inside the campus shifted to selling soft drinks and other knick-knacks. While some members of the Committee itself seemed unaware of the proposal being deferred, CDC chairman Zoya Hasan said the decision to defer the proposal was taken after a discussion.

"We believe that the issue requires a public discussion on the matter and so decided to defer it for the time being. This is a residential campus and if anyone wants to smoke in their house, they obviously can. We will not be able to stop students from smoking on the campus anyway, so how will a ban on the sale of cigarettes help. The subject requires much more discussion,'' said Prof. Hasan.

While the student community itself is believed to be divided on the issue with some political outfits supporting a complete ban on sale of tobacco on the campus and others strictly opposing it, the University itself seems to have decided to take the safer way out.

Admitting that the proposal was passed keeping in mind the general atmosphere of the campus, a CDC member said although ideally it would have been good to ban smoking on the campus, it was not ``practical''.

"If a student wants to harm his health by smoking, there is little that we can do. But then, why should the University act as a facilitator for the habit to grow among its students. We are not against the individual freedom of anyone, but the first priority of the campus should be the well being of students,'' a CDC member said in support of the proposal.

The student members of the CDC who were present for the meeting are said to have expressed their reservation on the issue, with an all student party meeting also being called to discuss the matter.

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