With Rs. 1.67 crore penalty collected in 2014 from violators of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of advertisement, regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), the Health Department is now planning to use this amount for a massive awareness campaign on the ill-effects of tobacco consumption in any form.
Sources in the State government’s high-powered committee on tobacco control told The Hindu on Sunday that it is proposed to use the funds collected towards penalty from violators of the Act to ensure proper implementation of the COTPA. “Whenever penalty is imposed on someone for violating the Act, the first thing we get to hear is that he/she was not aware of the Act. A massive awareness campaign is the need of the hour,” sources added.
The proposal, which has been cleared by Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader is now being forwarded to other departments, especially the Home Department, as implementation of the COTPA is possible only with the involvement and cooperation of the police.
U.S. Vishal Rao, Consultant Oncologist (Head and Neck) at HCG, who is also a member of high-powered committee, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had also come forward to release special videos in Kannada to create awareness on COTPA.
COTPA covers all forms of tobacco products and caters to various issues such as protection of the health of non-smokers in public places and minimising access of tobacco products to children. The violations are mainly pertaining to the sections that relate to smoking in public places, advertisements at points of sale, prohibition of sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions and pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, Dr. Rao explained.
Mr. Khader said he had asked the experts to devise a mechanism on creating awareness. “Penalty collected will be used to ensure that more people become aware of the law,” he said.
‘Whenever penalty is imposed on someone for violating the Act, the first thing we get to hear is that he was not aware of the Act’
