With ‘World No Tobacco Day’, falling on Friday, the ban on public smoking in the state calls for a re-visit. Smoking in public is not an uncommon sight.
In Kochi alone, 1,539 cases of public smoking have been registered in the first three months of this year. Ten years ago, imbibing the spirit of the 1999 Kerala High Court judgment, the Parliament of India enacted a law to curb public smoking.
Later, in 2003, 181 nations met in Geneva and took a unanimous decision to curb public smoking in the respective countries.
Justice K Narayana Kurup who pronounced the landmark 1999 judgment in Kerala High Court says that public smoking is still rampant.
“The implementation of that law got diluted over the years,” said Narayana Kurup. “During my morning a week ago, I saw a young man smoking in front of a tea shop. I argued with him, but he seemed unaware of such a law.” He said banning tobacco altogether is impractical. Dearth of smoker’s corner may have resulted in an the rise in public smoking, he said. In the West where public smoking is banned, smoker’s corners are mandatory. “It is the responsibility of the Municipality and Corporation to set up smoking corners in hotspots,” he said.
He has hopes in the GenNext, “I urged Union Human Resource Development Minister Shashi Tharoor to implement an anti-tobacco pledge in the morning prayer in CBSE schools. He issued such an order recently,” he said.
Oncologist Dr Mohanan Nair said that steps to ban the promotion of tobacco through advertisement and sponsorship would further help in reducing the preventable deaths and l other health hazards of tobacco. Meanwhile, steps are being taken to curb the menace as part of the World Tobacco Day. District Collector P I Sheikh Pareeth has issued notice against 65 shops in the city for putting up tobacco advertisements. The Junior Chamber International (JCI) Cochin and Vasan Dental Care are conducting a students’ march on Friday to spread anti-tobacco awareness which will be flagged off by Justice V R Krishna Iyer.
