Several years after the ban on smoking in public places came into effect in the city as elsewhere in the State, plumes of cigarette smoke still continue to invade the air in several places, sometimes overtly and at times, discreetly.
This is despite the city police registering around 3,000 to 4,000 cases in connection with smoking in public places every month in the past year. The statistics from the Population Based Cancer Registry for Thiruvananthapuram are not too encouraging either. Figures up to 2012 say that 36% of cancers among males and 11.5 per cent of cancers among females in the district are tobacco related.
The situation, along with the decision to get tough on smokers, has prompted the police to launch a five-day anti-tobacco drive from Friday, coinciding with the World No Tobacco Day on Saturday. H. Venkatesh, City Police Commissioner, said the drive, which began at 5 p.m. on Friday, would focus on tackling those who continued to puff away without concern in public places apart from targeting shopkeepers who sold tobacco products, on the sly, to students in schools and colleges.
Drunk driving, sale of banned tobacco products including ‘pan masala,’ and illegal consignments of tobacco products too would be targeted during the drive.
