Much haze on smoke ban

As the Centre’s ban on smoking in ‘public places’ comes into effect on October 2, states are either too confused or ill-equipped to enforce it.

All the smoke signals from New Delhi indicate that three days from now, lighting up in public will not be a light matter any more. But how do law enforcers plan to look for the smoking gun and stub out offenders? Or for that matter, will die-hard addicts be able to get away with their smoke and mirrors games? It really is anybody’s guess whether health minister Anbumani Ramadoss’ plan to smoke out cigarettes from public places will succeed. But most are confused over what comprises ‘public place’.

“I know that I can’t smoke at bus stations, airports, restaurants and stuff. I’ve also heard that restaurants with a seating capacity of 30 or more can have smoking sections. I’ll wait till October 2 to know where I can smoke,” says Niraj, an engineering student and call centre executive in Bangalore. Rumesh Shah, executive manager with a BPO in Bangalore is keeping his fingers firmly crossed: “I think we are allowed to smoke on the roads. Does it have to be an empty street? But where will I find one?” Hitesh Purohit, an Ahmedabad businessman too has the same complaint. “The common man needs to know what a public place is. Besides, for chain smokers like me, the government should mark some places as smoking zones so others don’t get affected and the law is not breached,” he suggests.

Will take time
Bangalore police commissioner, Shankar M Bidari says his department is still awaiting the state government’s notification on implementing the ban. “However, we have been informed about our authority to implement the rule and we will enforce it strictly,” he adds. Agrees additional commissioner of police (law and order), MR Pujari: “We have orally informed policemen at all levels. However, we are yet to receive any formal notification.”

MP Ranjan, chief postmaster-general, Karnataka, is candid: “Signboards are coming up in places but it will take time as we have more than 900 post offices and most are short-staffed. Hence we can request customers to refrain from smoking but can’t enforce the ban. Neither do we have any challans with us.”

Reining in the Reds 
In Marxist Bengal, where cigarettes are flag bearers of intellectualism, the law-enforcing agencies are at their wits’ end on where to begin. A notification has been issued by state health secretary Samar Ghosh notifying Writers’ Buildings as a strict “no-smoking zone” and warning of a penalty for anyone caught smoking in government offices. Smoke alarms have also been installed. But the state government is yet to appoint any nodal officer to collect the fines.

A senior health department officer admits: “The maximum the state government can do is ban smoking within its offices.” An officer of Kolkata Police’s special branch says with the force preoccupied in ensuring the security of VIPs in Writers’ Buildings, “it is impossible for us to find who is smoking in such a huge building. Besides, there are practical problems. Can we even stop reporters from smoking in the Press Corner?” he asks.

Equally confused are heads of educational institutions. The principal of Kolkata’s Charuchandra College, MN Chatterjee, also expresses his inability in strictly imposing the ban: “We have displayed a notice declaring the campus a no-smoking zone. But who can check each and every corner?” Psychologist Srikumar Mitra agrees: “Smokers will pay the penalty and smoke again.”

Just another holiday
UP on the other hand is in a state of blissful ignorance. The top boss of the health department in the country’s most populous state feels there is nothing new in the move. Probed further, director general (health) IS Srivastava says “we will do something about it”, or “you talk to director (medical care) PM Srivastava. He is directly looking into these things.” Srivastava was even more clueless: “We have received no such guidelines from the Centre. There is also no budget allotted for it. But we will try and do something on our own.” For the UP health department, October 2 obviously means nothing more than the usual public holiday for Gandhi Jayanti.

Waiting for formal notification
Rajasthan health minister Narpat Singh Rajvi too says he hasn’t received any written notification. “The Centre’s notification is not clear on “public” and “private” places and we are awaiting more guidelines,” he says. However, the state has appointed Devendra Kumar Ameta of the Directorate of AIDS control as nodal officer of the State Tobacco Control Cell.

All raring to go
Gujarat is among the few to have taken up the issue in all seriousness. Principal secretary (health and family welfare) Rita Teaotia says, “A circular has been issued to all state and district level bodies. We are also trying to spread awareness on what constitutes a ‘public place’.” Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation medical officer SP Kulkarni says: “We have started issuing no-smoking notices at places like hotels, restaurants, hospitals.” The AMC will also levy a fine of Rs50 for a first-time violation and increase it for subsequent offences.

No details as yet
SS Kulkarni, assistant food commissioner, Pune, pleads ignorance about details of the law: “We have not received any directives from the Centre. My information is a lot many things will be added in the new notification to specify where smoking would be banned. FDA inspectors also might be able to take action. But we do not know the definite clauses yet.”

No serious implementation
Orissa banned smoking since 2004, but never seriously implemented the law. It has empowered the police, food inspectors and drug inspectors to implement the ban. Police commissioner Bijay Kumar Sharma argues that unless police have the power to fine offenders on the spot (instead of producing them in court under the current law), smoking can’t be checked. Director health services Sukdev Sethi says from October 2, the state government will implement the law more effectively.  But sources add the state government may not be able to implement the ban effectively as the entire administration is already preoccupied with relief and rehabilitation in the flood-affected areas.

Smoke-free city
Chandigarh, which claims to be the country’s greenest and cleanest city, also became the first smoke-free city in the country by banning smoking at all public places and on public conveyances from July 15, 2007.

“Besides protecting children, women and non-smokers from the harmful consequences of smoking, such an initiative has improved the global image of Chandigarh and will be helpful in promoting business and tourism,” a senior government official says.

So what will happen on October 2? Or October 3, 4 or 5, or even later for that matter? Will the new law help clear the air? The answer is out there, blowin’ in the wind.

(Kuldeep Tiwari in Ahmedabad, Vaishalli Chandra and Soumya Menon in Bangalore, Deepak Gidwani in Lucknow, Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri in Kolkata, Rashpal Bhardwaj in Jaipur, Deepa Suryanarayan in Mumbai, Ankita Maru in Pune and Subhashish Mohanty in Bhubaneswar)