PATNA: Ban on smoking in public places has not been as successful in Bihar as anywhere else in the country! At least authorities concerned would like us to believe that. "No person has been caught smoking in any public place since the ban was effected on the Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 in 2008," a senior police officer told TOI.
There won't be many takers for this boast though. For, smokers puffing on beedis and cigarettes in public places are a common sight. What's then the mystery behind the official claim?
TOI investigated, and found out that the ban has remained only on paper and the implementing agency is virtually unaware of it. "Kya dhoomrapaan sab jagah nishedh hai (Is smoking banned everywhere)?" an officer-in-charge of a city police station asked this reporter.
His counterpart in another police station was a little enlightened. "I once heard about it," he said but added that he did not have instructions from his bosses to catch and fine smokers puffing in public places. "We do not have even `challan' (penalty slips) for the purpose in our police station," he said.
State health officials refused to go on record when they admitted their ignorance about the nitty-gritty of the implementation aspect of the ban. "The health department can only frame guidelines. The implementation is the police's responsibility," a health official said.
While moving the ban proposal in 2008, the Union health ministry had sent out the prototype of the `challan' to state health secretaries. The state officials had, in turn, had asked police to issue the same `challans' to the smokers being fined as the ones issued to violators of traffic rules.
According to the law, those caught smoking in places like hospitals, amusement parks, restaurants, courts, educational institutions, libraries, public conveyance, railway stations, workplaces, shopping malls, cinema halls, discotheques, coffee houses, pubs and restaurants would be fined Rs 200.
Studies have established that passive smoking (inhalation of environmental tobacco smoke emanating from tobacco products used by others) causes at least five lakh deaths globally every year. Scientific evidence shows that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes lung cancer, breast cancer, brain tumour, asthma, cognitive impairment, dementia, tuberculosis and several other diseases.
Reports say that if the amount of fine collected from defiant smokers is anything to go by, the ban has largely been successful in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Kerala and Rajasthan.
Bihar is yet to make its first move on the ground to implement the ban.
There won't be many takers for this boast though. For, smokers puffing on beedis and cigarettes in public places are a common sight. What's then the mystery behind the official claim?
TOI investigated, and found out that the ban has remained only on paper and the implementing agency is virtually unaware of it. "Kya dhoomrapaan sab jagah nishedh hai (Is smoking banned everywhere)?" an officer-in-charge of a city police station asked this reporter.
His counterpart in another police station was a little enlightened. "I once heard about it," he said but added that he did not have instructions from his bosses to catch and fine smokers puffing in public places. "We do not have even `challan' (penalty slips) for the purpose in our police station," he said.
State health officials refused to go on record when they admitted their ignorance about the nitty-gritty of the implementation aspect of the ban. "The health department can only frame guidelines. The implementation is the police's responsibility," a health official said.
While moving the ban proposal in 2008, the Union health ministry had sent out the prototype of the `challan' to state health secretaries. The state officials had, in turn, had asked police to issue the same `challans' to the smokers being fined as the ones issued to violators of traffic rules.
According to the law, those caught smoking in places like hospitals, amusement parks, restaurants, courts, educational institutions, libraries, public conveyance, railway stations, workplaces, shopping malls, cinema halls, discotheques, coffee houses, pubs and restaurants would be fined Rs 200.
Studies have established that passive smoking (inhalation of environmental tobacco smoke emanating from tobacco products used by others) causes at least five lakh deaths globally every year. Scientific evidence shows that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes lung cancer, breast cancer, brain tumour, asthma, cognitive impairment, dementia, tuberculosis and several other diseases.
Reports say that if the amount of fine collected from defiant smokers is anything to go by, the ban has largely been successful in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Kerala and Rajasthan.
Bihar is yet to make its first move on the ground to implement the ban.
Alok K N Mishra is a journalist with the Times of India. he can be contacted at alokmishra.co@gmail.com.
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