Mangaluru, Aug 28: Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police Dr SD Sharanappa said that under the Intensive Awareness and Enforcement Drive on Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) for a period of two months from July 1 to August 28 in the district, a total of 1,837 cases had been booked under sections of the Act and a total fine of Rs 3,28,870 was collected.
Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, he informed mediapersons that the awareness and enforcement drive was conducted with the intention of making Dakshina Kannada into a ‘Model District’ under the COPTA. Out of the total 1,837 cases, about 970 raids were conducted on shops, 408 raids on bars, restaurants, hotels and other places, 84 raids on government offices and 35 raids on government and private educational institutions under different sections of the Act. Almost 80 percent of compliance and enforcement of the Act has been completed in Dakshina Kannada District Police Department limits, he said, adding that the Act was applicable to all products containing tobacco in any form.
He said that there was a need to create awareness among tobacco users and people about the COTPA to ensure total compliance of the Act. From January 2013 till date, a total of 2,896 cases of COTPA have been booked in Dakshina Kannada and a total fine of Rs 4,52,220 has been collected by the law enforcement officials. Continuous monitoring needs to be done to ensure total compliance of the Act, he said.
Section 4 of the Act prohibits smoking in public places, while Section 5 prohibits advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of all tobacco products. Section 6 deals with prohibition of sale of tobacco products to minors and sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions. Section 7 deals with compulsorily carrying health warnings on tobacco packets.
Mr Sharanappa also told mediapersons that Karnataka was the leading state in the country in effective enforcement of the COTPA.
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