The month-long special drive taken up under the National Tobacco Control Programme in Mysuru came to an early end owing to non non-availability of police personnel, who were busy with security for the Ganesh festival.
The drive had begun on August 1 with representatives from Mysuru’s district Anti-Tobacco Cell and officials from different departments visiting shops, bars and restaurants, bus stands, paan shops and kirana stores near educational institutions and booking cases against offenders found violating the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003.
Though a decision had been taken, at a meeting convened by the Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep, to carry out the drive throughout the month, the campaign had to be given up on August 24 after the city police expressed their inability to spare personnel for it in view of the security arrangements in place for Ganesh Chaturti.
“One Sub-Inspector and two to three police constables would accompany the team during its drive,” said a representative of Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru, also participating in the campaign. “If police personnel do not accompany the team, it will not be possible to collect the penalty from the offenders,” the representative added.
65 cases on first day
During the first 20 days of the campaign, the team went around rural parts of the district and booked a total of 340 cases, mostly pertaining to smoking in public places, and collecting a penalty of ₹43,000 from offenders.
The team chose to focus on rural areas as the compliance of COTPA 2003 was poor in these areas. It took up the areas falling under the limits of Mysuru City Corporation on August 24. On the first day of the drive, it booked 65 cases and realised a penalty of ₹7,500.
“We could manage to cover areas falling under the limits of three police stations – Devaraja, Mandi and Lashkar. Out of the 16 police stations in Mysuru City, we could cover only three,” the representative said.
‘Drive will continue’
However, Mysuru District Surveillance Officer Kusuma, who is the Programme Officer of the District Anti-Tobacco Cell, said the drive to implement provisions of COTPA was a continuous process.
“The drive will not be stopped, but will continue,” she said.
Shivakumar, consultant, District Anti-Tobacco Cell, said a timetable had been prepared for the continuation of the drive, which will be held atleast twice a week in different parts of the city and the district.
