Police chiefs, collectors to head grievance panels

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is proposing to appoint police commissioners and district collectors as appellate authorities at district levels and the additional chief secretary, Public Health, as the highest appellate authority at the state level to hear grievances involving the ban on smoking in public.
"Our proposals are ready and they will be given for approval to the additional chief secretary for public health and family welfare , Chandra Iyengar, within the next three days,'' said B R Uke, joint secretary of public health.
According to the proposal, powers will be delegated to these authorities to punish defaulters. "Smoking or pasting cigarette advertisements within 100 metres of school premises will invoke punishments,'' said Uke. He added that the district-level committees would also review the implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act in their respective districts.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court turned down a plea to allow smoking in private offices, over 6,000 hoteliers across the city got a circular from the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Ahar) asking them to remove ashtrays from tables and build separate smoking areas.
President of Ahar, Chandrahas Shetty, said the smoking areas will have ventilators that open to the outside of the hotel. "Now, whole restaurants will become nosmoking zones, except an enclosure nearby. We will not allow smoking at the passages or entries and exits,'' Shetty said.
Vikrant Chougule, owner of 32 restaurants and lounges across India, including seven in Mumbai, said his businesses will follow the law. Five-stars are also getting into the act. Devendra Bharma, executive vice-president, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Mumbai, said they would enforce the ban as it is in the interest of public health. "We believe guests are already aware and have read about the ban. They will appreciate and adhere to the government's legislation,'' he said.
Dr S Shastri, head of preventive oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital, said, "Such bans are for the benefit of the public to protect their health. Tobacco kills more than five million people every year, more than TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria put together. At this point, no-smoking as a right isn't understood by people, but we need a positive and proactive approach for the health of people.''
The Hotel Corporation of India has filed a petition challenging the procedure for fining illegal smokers.