Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru Bagadi Gautham on Wednesday asked the officials to step up the drive to implement provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 across the district ahead of seeking a survey from the State Tobacco Control Cell on the compliance with the Act.
Chairing a quarterly meeting of the Mysuru district tobacco control cell here, Mr. Gautham said the district can be declared as a “high COTPA 2003 compliant district” if the compliance level was above 80 per cent.
Already, drives are being conducted in both urban and rural parts of the district to enforce the provision of COTPA 2003.
The drives carried out by the Mysuru district tobacco control cell along with officials from police, education and civic bodies among others books cases to enforce Section 4 of the Act that prohibits smoking in public places, Section 5 that prohibits advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products, Section 6 that prohibits sale of cigarettes to children below the age of 18 years and sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of an educational institution, among others.
The meeting held on Wednesday decided to appoint tahsildars as the nodal officers for enforcement of COTPA 2003. They should not only ensure that drives are conducted against sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of schools, but also hold periodic review meetings.
The meeting also took note of the decision of hookah bar owners in Mysuru to move the court after officials of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) ordered their closure. The MCC teams led by Mayor Sunanda Palanetra and some corporators had raided some hookah bars in the city and displayed their ire at the hookah bar owners.
