Date:05/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/05/stories/2009010559700100.htm

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Smoking ban: poor execution in State

Afshan Yasmeen

Health Department pulled up for being inept in its approach

Bangalore: Three months after the much-hyped ban on smoking in public was introduced in the country, health officials in Karnataka have managed to collect only a paltry Rs. 63,000 as penalty from violators.

Does this mean that not many are violating the ban, or is this because of poor compliance of rules by officials? The Union Health Ministry recently pulled up Karnataka Health Department officials for their inept approach to implementing the ban. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the nodal agency to implement the ban in city limits, has not penalised anyone so far.

The proposal to cancel the licence of traders who do not implement the ban strictly in their shops and establishments also remains on paper. BBMP Chief Health Officer L.T. Gayatri said the problems that arose in the aftermath of the National Pulse Polio programme had delayed the process of setting up the task force for monitoring and implementing the ban. “It will be set up shortly,” she said.

While a few violators were being caught in railway stations and bus stations, heads of various hospitals in the city claimed they had succeeded in sensitising the people about the ban. “We are focusing on the awareness aspect now. We have taken up 50 schools and are sensitising students to the ill-effects of tobacco,” said G.T. Subash, Director and Dean of Bangalore Medical College and Research Centre who also heads the Anti-Tobacco Cell for Bangalore District. The State Anti-Tobacco Cell has so far raided eight clubs and hotels in the last three months and penalised just seven persons for violating the Act.

Why such a dismal record? S. Prakash, who heads the cell, said there were several hitches in implementing the ban. Citing an example, he said: “One of the exit points of an IT company in Whitefield, Bangalore, opens out into a road in a residential area. Smokers step out through this door to enjoy their puff. Though residents of the area have complained to the company authorities, they are helpless as smoking on the road is not a violation according to the Act.”

Criticism

Responding to the Union Health Ministry’s recent evaluation that Karnataka had shown little eagerness in implementing the ban when it came to issuing notices to violators, Dr. Prakash said: “We have set up district anti-tobacco cells and have authorised them to print notices and collect fines. According to reports sent to us by these cells, they have taken up a rigorous awareness campaign to educate the people.”