TIRUCHY: At Chathiram Bus Stand, a man smokes beneath a 'No Smoking' sign board. Nearby, visibly amidst the crowd, another person rubs tobacco into his palm and packs it into his lip. Despite Rs 33.28 lakh fines under the COTPA Act, 2003, collected between 2017 and 2025, and repeated awareness drives, tobacco use in Tiruchy remains visibly entrenched especially in public spaces.
This, even after the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Commissioner extended the ban on manufacturing, storing, transporting, and selling gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine for another year from May 23, 2025, through a gazette notification.
A field visit by TNIE to city shops found chewable tobacco products widely available, often bought by students, youth, heavy vehicle drivers and guest workers. Some shops sold cigarettes without statutory warnings or pictorial displays at their outlet. While open displays of cigarettes have reduced, they are still sold discreetly.
The ban does not cover cigarettes, which remain legal but regulated. In Tiruchy, tea shops often double as informal smoking hubs, where public smoking is rarely questioned "Tea alone doesn't attract customers. If we don't sell cigarettes, they go elsewhere. We run at a loss," said a tea vendor near Beema Nagar. Meanwhile, a popular tea outlet chain with 15 branches across the city has successfully banned tobacco sales. "We've built a brand around clean service. We don't rely on tobacco," said A Nasser Ahamed, owner of one such outlet near Gandhi Market.
According to Tiruchy's District Tobacco Control Cell, `25.4 lakh fines were issued for public smoking (Section 4) since 2017 and `6.74 lakh for illegal sales near educational institutions (Section 6b). "Products often come from neighbouring states without such bans, which weakens our enforcement," said a senior health department official. According to the data accessed by TNIE, by contrast, rural areas show promise. Since 2023, 298 hamlets have been declared Tobacco-Free Villages after panchayats passed resolutions banning tobacco sale and use. In education sphere, 1,776 schools were certified as Tobacco-Free between 2022 and 2023, with mandated signage, inspections, and a 300-foot no-sale zone.
Still, the use of smokeless tobacco is rising among older students, particularly in Manachanallur, Thuraiyur, Uppiliyapuram, and Thottiyam blocks. "Students hide these products in their mouth. We have intensified school inspections and fined shops which sells banned chewable tobacco products. Teachers are also instructed to call us once they find abnormal behaviour from any students," said Dr J Ilaiyasurya, consultant with the District Tobacco Control Cell.
To help users quit, the District Tobacco Cessation Centre at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital has offered free counselling and medical aid since December 2022. So far, 7,627 people have received support, but only 20 have fully quit. Ahead of World No Tobacco Day today, officials are marking 300-foot school zones with yellow lines and ramping up checks. "Until access is tightened and mindsets change, enforcement alone won't win this battle," said V Mohan, a senior health department official.