Up in smoke

Only one person smokes in a public place every three days. Surprised? At least that's what the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) thinks.

Up in smoke

Only one person smokes in a public place every three days. Surprised? At least that's what the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) thinks.

Assigned with the job of implementing the ban on smoking in public places, the FDA has fined just 135 people in the past 13 months, an average of just 10 people in a month.

When MiD DAY asked FDA officials they claimed that they couldn't collect fines as most people get aggressive when asked to hand over the fine.

Violent behaviour
"People who violate rules are usually drunk too, and get aggressive. There is lot of preparation needed for raids. We need backup from police, which we don't always get. Besides, this is an additional job and our officers are already overburdened with existing work. Other agencies have also been appointed but no one does as much work as us," said Sanjay Patil, joint commissioner, FDA Pune.

Another factor he claimed for the miniscule number of offenders was the popularity of the smoking ban.

"The awareness is good and smoking in public places is much lesser. In hotels, areas are separate while at bus stops, people know it's not right to smoke."

Most raids done by the FDA were across bus stops, railway stations, hotels and bars.

As FDA claimed it was difficult to find offenders, MiD DAY decided to have a look and here's what we found. In a span of an hour, MiD DAY 'caught' five people smoking in public places.

What ban?
Not only were these people aware of the smoking ban but also they didn't seem to care , as no one ever fined them despite repeated offences. However, after spending a few minutes with them, a couple of people actually promised not to smoke in public places again.

At Swargate main bus station, we saw a man smoking while others wrinkled their noses and turned their face away. After capturing his image on camera, we walked across to him and learnt that his name was Ghulam and he was a local businessman. On pointing out that smoking was banned at bus stops, he immediately apologised and promised not to do it again.

No big deal
A few others, like Ram Bhau at Shivaji Nagar bus stop or Dinesh at Swargate ST bus stand, proudly proclaimed that this was their daily routine and that it is 'allowed' as no official has ever caught them.

"I smoke here almost every day. This is my daily route, when no one bothered till now why are you worried? Sab chalta hai," said Ram Bhau.

MiD DAY also caught a couple of teenagers smoking at the bus stand right outside Fergusson College. While they fled without giving us their names, we spoke to a teenager Mayur who claimed to be an ex-student of the college.

"Don't bother me. It's none of your business. It's ok to smoke here," said the youngster before walking off.

"This happens quite often. Students get out and smoke at the bus stop outside or down the lane. Nothing can be done," said a second year arts student requesting anonymity.