21 challaned for smoking in public places in city

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 17

As many as 21 challans were issued and a penalty of Rs 1,240 was imposed on people for violating a ban on smoking in public places in the city.

According to Section 4 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008, smoking is banned in public places.

The objective of the ban is to protect people from Second Hand Smoke (SHS) exposure. SHS is a mixture of smoke exhaled by a smoker and smoke emanating from burning end of a cigarette/beedi/cigar (side line smoke), according to the Tobacco Control Cell, Punjab.

The COTPA defines public place as any place to which the public has access and includes auditorium, hospital buildings, railways waiting rooms, amusement centres, restaurants, public offices, court buildings, educational institutions, libraries and public conveyances.

According to medical experts, tobacco smoking causes a wide-range of diseases and it affects nearly every organ of the body. The smoke from a smoker’s beedi, cigarette and other smoking forms, called SHS also causes serious health problems to those exposed to it.

SHS has more than 7,000 different chemicals, 69 of which have been known to be associated with cancer.

Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said SHS or passive smoking is as dangerous as actual smoking.

According to the Tobacco Control Cell, the exposure to SHS is known to cause serious health problems among adults and children. The associated effects of SHS exposure include heart diseases, lung cancer, severe asthma attacks and sudden infant death syndrome.

Women exposed to the SHS face problems, including reduced fertility, still births, low birth weight babies and cervical cancer.