Today I was watching the program “Halla Bol” on Zee News and the topic was smoking in public places. Lots of people were caught live on camera smoking on public places and questioned.
Most of them were angry and questions to the anchor of the program to define public places and many were not aware of this. There were lots of police personals who need to protect the law were caught smoking. One boy told that he was caught in the morning and was asked to pay Rs 200 as fine, but he had only Rs 20. The police took Rs 20 and let him go. Some were of the opinion, that the Government should totally ban the sale of cigarettes, but the Indian cigarette industry is about 30 billion dollars and third in the world for usage.
Smoking in public places really is a concern for the people who do not smoke. This was implemented in different states like Kerala and Tamilnadu, but now its all over India. Ban on smoking in public places came into force yesterday 2nd October, following the government’s announcement in May this year of the new Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rule, 2008, which includes work places, hotels, restaurants, discos, bars and pubs. If you are caught smoking in a public place, you will have to pay a fine of Rs 200.
