Smoking ban up in smoke on day 1
Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 am
Pune, Oct 2: On the first day of the ban on smoking in public places, people were seen defying it. No implementation of the ban by the authorities was in sight and no one was penalised. Smokers are up in arms against the ban.
A call centre executive smoking in Camp area called the ban “ridiculous”. Another smoker, Archis Tankhiwale, working with a private firm, felt implementing the ban would be an uphill task. Shailesh Pawar, an IT professional said, “People like us need to give vent to stress owing to work pressure. Now we cannot smoke even outside our work premises. How are we to cope with our work pressure?”
At Pune railway station, smokers were spotted enjoying their daily puff without hesitation or fear. But Pune Station Manager J M Laturkar insisted they hadn’t found anyone smoking in the station. “The official directive is to impose a fine on anyone found smoking on the platform or anywhere inside the railway station,” he added. The scene at the bus stand was no different with people smoking as usual. Kashinath Telange, Controller at the Pune Municipal Corporation said, “Smoking inside a bus is already banned. With the new law in place, we will ask the commuter (smoking inside the bus) to get down if the person refuses to stop smoking.”
Asked about the implementation of the fines he said, “We have no orders as yet, but we will be receiving orders regarding the fines soon. As of now, we have been asked to politely tell the commuter to get down.” It seems private firms are adhering to the ban. Shweta Singh, HR head, Wipro said the smoking zone at the fourth floor of their office that used to have a small gathering of smokers after lunch did not see a single person turning up at the place on Thursday. Abhay Khare, GM, finance, Quadrant Communications, said corridors where smokers usually take their puff, especially in the evenings, were deserted. He added that there was an uproar in the office with people voicing their opposition to the notification on the ban. (Indian Express)
A call centre executive smoking in Camp area called the ban “ridiculous”. Another smoker, Archis Tankhiwale, working with a private firm, felt implementing the ban would be an uphill task. Shailesh Pawar, an IT professional said, “People like us need to give vent to stress owing to work pressure. Now we cannot smoke even outside our work premises. How are we to cope with our work pressure?”
At Pune railway station, smokers were spotted enjoying their daily puff without hesitation or fear. But Pune Station Manager J M Laturkar insisted they hadn’t found anyone smoking in the station. “The official directive is to impose a fine on anyone found smoking on the platform or anywhere inside the railway station,” he added. The scene at the bus stand was no different with people smoking as usual. Kashinath Telange, Controller at the Pune Municipal Corporation said, “Smoking inside a bus is already banned. With the new law in place, we will ask the commuter (smoking inside the bus) to get down if the person refuses to stop smoking.”
Asked about the implementation of the fines he said, “We have no orders as yet, but we will be receiving orders regarding the fines soon. As of now, we have been asked to politely tell the commuter to get down.” It seems private firms are adhering to the ban. Shweta Singh, HR head, Wipro said the smoking zone at the fourth floor of their office that used to have a small gathering of smokers after lunch did not see a single person turning up at the place on Thursday. Abhay Khare, GM, finance, Quadrant Communications, said corridors where smokers usually take their puff, especially in the evenings, were deserted. He added that there was an uproar in the office with people voicing their opposition to the notification on the ban. (Indian Express)
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