Efforts are in full swing to form an inspection team comprising officials from various government departments to check the compliance of private organisations in the district with the standing anti-smoking laws.
The team, mainly comprising officials from the Health Department and staff appointed by the district administration, is likely to visit as many organisations as possible from the first week of October.
District Collector C.A. Latha will monitor the drive, as it directly comes under the district administration’s new project to declare Kozhikode a tobacco-free district.
“We will conduct the search in a random way. The city police too will join the drive,” the Collector told The Hindu , here, on Monday.
In the inspections planned from October, the team will mainly check whether private organisations have displayed the legally prescribed cautionary note against smoking on their premises.
The size of the cautionary boards and the words written on it, too, will be a matter of consideration during the inspection.
As part of strict enforcement, the heads of various institutions have already been sent special letters from the Collectorate to cooperate with the special drive.
They have also been directed to return a report with the measures already taken to enforce the rule.
Legally responsibleOfficials say the heads of the private organisations will be legally responsible for ensuring a smoke-free ambiance on the office premises.
“In place of any violations found, the head of the institution will be held responsible. In case of employees’ complaints too, they will be answerable,” the officials say.
Though the official launch of the drive is scheduled from October 1, officials designated from the Collectorate to coordinate it have started initiating action against the violators of the rule.
According to official sources, legal action has been initiated against no fewer than any 15 firms in the city limit so far.
The firms altogether remitted Rs.3,200 as fine to the government, they say.
