DHNS

Bangalore Oct 3: Smokers in the City were literally smoked out onto the streets, as several restaurants put up large No Smoking signboards.
 
Nowhere else was this more visible than at the famed smokers’ hangouts — Koshy’s on St Mark’s Road and the Java City outlet on Church Street. Prominent ‘No Smoking’ signs inside the premises forced the customers to huddle on the road and take a puff.

Unlike the police who are waiting for “directives from the government”, security guards in private buildings did not hesitate to enforce the ban. People were asked to stub out the butt before entering the premises.
However, some restaurants disregarded the rule as they were still unsure about the exact guidelines. The manager of an open-air restaurant said they had been receiving their information from the media and were not clear about the guidelines.

Pubs in the City were closed on Thursday on account of Gandhi Jayanthi, so they had to put off a decision on the ban for another day.

Health and Family Welfare secretary Madan Gopal said the department would conduct checks and a system would be put in place soon. He said 102 officers had been notified to ensure the rule is being implemented.

Official position

Meanwhile, the police claimed that they had not received any Central government guidelines. Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M R Pujar said they were bound to act on any decision taken by the Centre but no instructions had come so far.

The new rule will not make much of a difference to the Railways as a comprehensive ‘No Smoking’ rule already exists. A senior railway official said smoking had been banned in trains and railway stations for several years now. Ticket examiners are authorised to fine people who smoke on the train and the Bangalore division gets at least 15-20 cases a day. The Railways also imposes a fine of Rs 200 on the offenders.

The spokesperson for Bengaluru International Airport said that they expected the police to enforce the rule outside the terminal building. As per the rules for international airports, they would be looking at creating smoking rooms inside the building, but the areas outside the building would have to be taken care by the police.

Ban tobacco too: Ramadoss

Meanwhile in Chennai, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said his next big wish was to see a ban on all tobacco products.

“Though we wish to ban the production of tobacco-related products, we cannot do it immediately. We have to take into consideration thousands of farmers who are cultivating tobacco. We have to provide them with alternative employment before introducing such a ban,” he said.