Stub it out: Bidari cool to BBMP plea

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wants the police to help them tackle tobacco menace in the city. However, police commissioner Shankar M Bidari has not yet responded to the appeal of the Palike, even after five months.

In his letter to the police commissioner in October last, the BBMP commissioner Siddaiah had requested Bidari to provide policemen for the security of officials conducting raids in shops that are selling tobacco products, by violating the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).

He had requested Bidari to appoint a nodal officer and deploy a flying squad comprising a sub-inspector and few constables, for a period of three to four months.

“We even went to the commissioner’s office several times. However, police officers just made us meet various high ranking officers. After few such visits, one senior police officer said that the  department is under-staffed as they are busy tracking murders and other crimes in the city. They said they will not be able to assist the Palike,” said a BBMP official.

While the officers of the National Tobacco Control Programme Project Cell at Dasappa Hospital are raiding various shops violating the norms, they are facing strong resistance from vendors at certain areas.

“In some areas, raiding such shops becomes difficult. For instance, in Shivajinagar, a woman who was illegally selling tobacco picked up a verbal fight with us and threatened that she is a distant relative of the local MLA. Dealing with such people has become difficult. But if we have police protection, we can easily and successfully implement and control illegal sales of tobacco products,” the official said.

According to the statistics available with the BBMP, it has booked 106 cases under section 4  (smoking in public places) and collected Rs 40,050. It had booked 75 cases and collected Rs13,050 under section 6 (shops located close to educational institutions).

“The BBMP has registered 181 cases and collected Rs52,900 in 2010,” said the officer and added that the poor implementation of law is also due to the negligence of the medical officers of health (MOHs) at the zonal level.

The BBMP deputy commissioner (Health) on October 27 last has served notice to the MOH of Malleswaram, Gandhinagar, Chickpet, Bommanahalli, Bangalore South, RR Nagar, Yeshwantpur, Padmanabhanagar, Shantinagar, Mahadevapura, Pulakeshinagar, Rajajinagar, Basavangudi, Yelahanka, Byatarayanapura, and BTM Layout for not providing details on the action taken against illegal sales of tobacco products.

He has also instructed to take stern action for ignoring the orders of the higher-ups, disregard for duty, and disregard for high court direction.

“While there are only three health officers for the eight zones of BBMP, the MOHs who are supposed to take action against the culprits have to report to the health officers and not directly to the National Tobacco Control Programme Project Cell. While the MOH are not working satisfactorily, the project officers are also not getting police protection to implement the high court directive,” said the officer.

He added that in February, when the project cell sent a circular to all health officers for a meeting to discuss the illegal selling of tobacco, no one turned up.