Rs 33 cr fine collected from public smokers in last 14 years

Hyderabad: Fourteen years after the implementation of smoke-free rules, which came into effect on October 2, 2008, an amount of Rs 33 crore has been collected by the State government as fine from people for violating the no-smoking rules.

As many as 26,16,050 persons were fined during the period 2007-08 to 2020-21 (upto June 2020). While appreciating the government for its timely initiatives to protect people from killer tobacco products, public health experts, doctors and passive smoking victims, appealed to make the nation 100 per cent smoke-free by removal of designated smoking rooms.

Observed Bhavna B Mukhopadhyay, Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), "the implementation of the no smoking rules shows the government's commitment towards tobacco control. However, COTPA 2003, allows smoking in certain public places (restaurants, hotels and airports), in the form of designated smoking areas. I recommend that we should abolish all designated smoking areas in hotels and restaurants and even airports to ensure a 100 per cent smoke-free environment since most of these designated smoking areas are rarely compliant as per COTPA requirements and are actually putting our public at great health risk from exposure to secondhand smoke".

She said tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature deaths globally. In India more than 13 lakh people are losing life every year due to tobacco-related diseases. India has over 26 crore tobacco users, cutting across all demographics and genders. The annual economic cost from all tobacco products is estimated at Rs 177,341 crore in 2017-18 amounting to 1per cent of GDP.

On this occasion, Nalini Satyanaraya, a passive smoking victim, voiced her suffering as a cancer victim to draw attention to the sufferings of non-smokers due to second-hand smoke.

"Exposure to passive smoking risks the lives of thousands of non-smokers by exposing them to the smoke of cigarettes. Designated smoking areas in hotels, restaurants, bars, airports allows the seepage of cigarette smoke to non-smoking, increasing the risk of cancers and lung & heart diseases. The COTPA act needs to be amended, to not permit smoking in any premises, and make it completely smoke free in the best interest of the public health," appeals Nalini, who was diagnosed with throat cancer eight years back.