The Chennai model that enabled better enforcement of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, is set to be adopted in other parts of Tamil Nadu.
Exclusive teams would be constituted to carry out raids on a daily basis to check violations of the Act, said officials of the Directorate of Public Health. After successful implementation in Chennai for the past one-and-half years, public health officials in the districts have been asked to put in place the same model by forming dedicated teams and providing them vehicles to conduct raids every day.
Separate vehicle
“In Chennai, we constituted a team with four health inspectors and police personnel. We gave them a vehicle to take up raids daily. This team has area-wise tour programmes to check on various violations as per the COTPA. In fact, these daily raids helped us in better enforcement,” said A. Somasundaram, joint director, Public Health.
In fact, since 2008, the total fine collected from across the State for various violations as per COTPA was around ₹3 crore. Chennai alone accounted for ₹48 lakh last year, he observed.
The fine was imposed on violations under Sections 4 (prohibition of smoking in a public place), 5 (prohibition of advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products) and 6 (a) and (b) (prohibition on sale of cigarette or other tobacco products to a person below the age of 18 years and in particular area — an area within a radius of 100 yards of any educational institution) of COTPA.
“We are planning to deploy an additional team in the city this year for better enforcement,” he said.
With the State banning the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes, the official said the public could inform the State Health Department’s round-the-clock helpline — 104 — if they saw e-cigarettes being sold anywhere in the State.