Andhra Pradesh   

Anti-tobacco law goes for a toss in Adilabad

-PHOTO: G. SANJEEV REDDY

Putting to practice: Adilabad DMHO, Manikya Rao makes his office complex a tobacco free zone.

ADILABAD: Despite the tremendous importance attached to curbing of consumption of tobacco and tobacco-based products, implementation of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisements and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, has gone up in smoke in Adilabad district.

Barring the office of the District Medical and Health Officer here, even display boards as laid down in the COTP Act have not been put up in government offices, including the district collectorate, public places or tobacconists’.

The huge collectorate building boasts of a few old fashioned ‘no smoking’ signs while only one signboard has been put up at the neighbouring Zilla Parishad building to quote just a couple of examples. Needless to say, no violator has been penalised under the Act so far, which says a lot about the effort of the administration towards the implementation of COTP Act.

This Act specifies about display boards, health warnings and messages under its different sections. While specially-designed boards declaring a given place as a ‘no smoking’ area need to be displayed at all public places, display boards also need to be put up in educational institutions declaring the place as a tobacco-free institution and prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within 100 yards.

Similarly, display boards declaring sale of tobacco products to persons below the age of 18 needs to come up at places where the products are sold. Cigarette advertisements need to prominently display the warning of ‘tobacco causes cancer’ or ‘tobacco kills’.

“As directed by the government, we started implementing the Act on October 2, 2008, when it was implemented across the country. As no violation of the COTP Act was registered in our office, there was no instance of imposing fines so far. Ours is a completely tobacco-free institution,” Dr. M. Manikya Rao, DMHO, said explaining his efforts to curb smoking and chewing of tobacco.

“It is perhaps apt that our department, having direct concern with the health of people, implements the Act with zeal,” he adds.

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