BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday shut down 13 business establishments in all eight zones for violation of rules, after checking their compliance with the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). This follows a special drive by the city police against violation of COTPA.
According to BBMP Health Commissioner KV Thrilok Chandra, the Palike also issued notices to 50 establishments for first-time offences and collected a penalty of around Rs 50,000 from offenders.
Health department officials have been given standing instructions to conduct surprise inspections on weekends at pubs, restaurants and hotels as these places draw crowds. Health officials said the raids were held to check compliance with COTPA rules.
“We have been receiving many complaints that restaurants, pubs and cafes are flouting rules. Recently, the city police also raided hundreds of places and shut down five establishments for not following rules and putting up ‘No Smoking Zone’ signage, besides checking whether Designated Smoking Areas adhered to the guidelines,” said an official.
A few days ago, Police Commissioner B Dayananda had warned the public of a fine for smoking in public places and released a handbook on the ill effects of smoking and creating awareness about the COTPA rules. Police had raided over 1,000 places across the city and booked 950 cases in two weeks.