Million dollar question: How to enforce smoking ban?

BANGALORE: The Supreme Court's declination to stay the smoking ban has left the smoker with a shrunken space to get that nicotine high starting October 2. While the police are clear about being the enforcing agency, there is confusion all round on how to enforce the ban.

Commissioner of Police, Shankar M Bidari, vehemently says "We have been informed about our authority to implement the rule and we will enforce it strictly''.

Additional Commissioner of Police Law and Order, MR Pujar, said "We can either impose a fine on the violator directly or produce the person in court. If the person who violates the rule has to be produced before the court, he/she will be in police custody till then. Every other organisation has to go through the police to implement the rule. We have orally informed policemen across all levels, including constables, sub-inspectors and inspectors."

While offices, pubs, restaurants are all considered ‘public space’, there is no clear system to bring violators in these places to book.

Who reports the violator to the police? And will he be reported at all?

Though many firms here have made arrangements for providing special smoking zones in the office premises, they still have not formulated an action plan for punishing the offenders.

"Though we have designated places for smoking in the office space, I personally feel the law is full of loopholes. Should not they be banning the sale of cigarettes instead of smoking?" asked Ashiq Pai, senior manager of Turning Point, Quality.
The IT firms have had special smoking enclosures even before the health minister thought of the ban.

Appreciating the ban, the chief finance officer of Infosys, V Balakrishnan, said the IT bellwether had banned smoking on premises ages ago. "Most of our campuses have designated smoking zones. Now we will have to see the fine print in the law and fine tune the existing rule in the company."

At CISCO too, the changes are yet to be made. "We have provisions to follow the ban but have to make certain changes to fit in the new law," said the corporate communication vice president, Verghese M Thomas.

Pubs are locations where smoking is difficult to prohibit. Ashok Sadhwani, Down Town pub owner and chairperson of Pub and Restaurant Owner's Association, says "It is not easy to follow the ban. I have not even understood what the rule says. The pub owners will approach a health officer and make us explain the rule. We can set up smoking enclosures. But drinking and smoking go hand in hand. We will carve an action plan only after meeting the health officer."

Elango Oval, Pecos (group) pub owner, says "We already have smoking zones in the pub. I cannot make changes anymore. We have done enough to follow the smoking ban. If people still want to smoke, I will tell them to go out and do the needful."
Rajeev Ranjan, restaurant manager, Ruby Tuesday, says: "We have two floors exceeding the 30-seat capacity. At the moment, we will be shifting the ground floor to upstairs so that we have exclusive smoking zone as mentioned in the rule. We will request customers beforehand to divide themselves into smokers or non-smokers and seat themselves accordingly. But remember, I can only request them."

Elvis James, assistant manager, 20 ft. HIGH: "At the moment, we have completely banned smoking on our premises as we have to follow the rules. We have been given the provision of having a smoking deck, but we will look into it later."

Even Café Coffee Day (CCD) president, marketing, Vidisha Nagaraj, says  all CCD having less than 30-seat capacity will prohibit smoking. This means almost all the CCDs in the chain are set to turn smoke-free zones this Gandhi Jayanthi onwards.

`Ban tobacco firms first'

Vijayakumar K, an HR consultant with a tech firm, argues that the ban does not affect smokers. "We have a smoking lounge where most informal business dealings happen. We have many spots to smoke. Actually, the government should ban tobacco companies from manufacturing and selling their products," he said.

Anoop Kumar, business development manager with a law firm, is an occasional smoker on week days but turns a chain smoker over the weekend. Says he, "I think the ban is ridiculous. It makes no sense. I can control my urge to smoke but I have friends  who cannot do without a smoke. I trust these guys to find a way out of this.

"At the end of the day, business establishments -- cafes, pubs and restaurants -- stand to lose business. I would rather  it at home and smoke than get penalised. Once the law comes into effect, it may be followed strictly for a month or two and then things will get back to normal. I doubt whether this ban will work."  Saina Jayapal, Senior PR executive, ex-smoker,  ays, "If you need to smoke, you'll find ways to do it. That way, humans are ingenious. Banning public places like offices and eating joints may control it to a large extend. But it surely cannot be eliminated. I doubt if the pubs will follow it strictly. Drinking and smoking go hand in hand for some. Pubs may turn a blind eye to it, you know that entire, `I-don't-see-it-I-don't-know-it' funda. It may tone down things a bit, but it certainly cannot eliminate smoking."

Inputs by Vaishali Chandra