The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Police in the dark about enforcement of smoking ban

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Friday, Oct 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Police in the dark about enforcement of smoking ban

L. Srikrishna and Shastry V.Mallady

Lack of clarity in government departments, including health

Not many complaints on day one of ban
Tea shops display ‘no smoking’ boards

MADURAI: With no clear directive on the enforcement of ban on smoking in public places, police personnel in southern districts are in the dark.

On the first day of implementing the ban, there was lack of clarity in various government departments, including Health.

A top police officer in the southern zone said that they had no official circular or a notification in this regard till now. “Who is going to impose the fine… and where is the money going to be remitted… nothing is clear,” he maintained.

The publicity in the media might have reached the masses, he said, but when it came to enforcement, the police or for that matter any enforcing officer should be armed with the order, another officer in Madurai city said.

Police officers in Dindigul, Theni and Kanyakumari districts said many tea shops had voluntarily displayed ‘Smoking banned in public places’ boards. There were not many complaints on day one.

Even as it was announced that public smoking would attract a fine of Rs.200, health officials here said that no guidelines for implementation had been received except that health inspectors must be asked to coordinate with other departments in enforcing the ban.

A senior district health official said that they were awaiting more clarity in this regard. “Right now we are creating public awareness of the dangers of smoking.”

On day one, Health Department officials in Madurai confined to holding awareness programme for their staff at Samayanallur, near here.

Also, it was pointed out that there was no format for lodging a formal complaint and registering it even though the Central/State governments had announced the ban from Gandhi Jayanthi.

Health officials expressed apprehension on their role in enforcement as there were more women among health department employees in rural areas.

“How can they go and catch a male smoker in a village? It will be better if police alone took up the task of enforcement.”

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