No-smoking Act goes up in smoke

The warning" Sale of ciga­rettes or other tobacco prod­ucts to a person below 18 is strictly prohibited" has failed to deter minors from using these due to their ubiq­uitous availability.

Also, vendors are guilty of "indirectly" encouraging the adolescents as they have failed to put up the warning notice as necessitated by the act.

The district administration and the department of health and family welfare have failed miserably as far as implementation of the Anti Tobacco Act (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regula­tion of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Dis­tribution) is concerned.

Even the drives to check smoking in public places seems to be a mere eyewash. A senior health official revealed that the teams mobilised to challan people smoking in public places came with just 12 challans per day.

A resident of Kitchlu Nagar while commenting on the recent raids on hookah joints said, "The departments should continue with the raids across the city which are not only guilty of selling tobacco products to underage students but have also employed small boys as salesmen."

City-based NGOs, including Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle(GGSSC) and Uni­versal Human Rights Organisation, are striving hard to effectively imple­ment the Anti Tobacco Act, but getting little support from the administration.

However, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr SS Dhir said all the major hotels and restaurants have been issued letters to ban smoking on their premises.

The health teams are also identifying and remove vends selling tobacco prod­ucts near educational insti­tutes soon.