COTPA Sec 4: No person shall smoke in any public place

Urban areas of Jamshedpur made smoke-free zone, smoking in public now punishable, sale of tobacco products would require licence

Jamshedpur: The Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum, Suraj Kumar, today declared the urban areas falling under the jurisdiction of four urban local bodies as smoke free zone. According to Section 4 of COTPA, 2003, no person would now be allowed to smoke in any public place as it would be punishable under the Act.

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 or COTPA, 2003 is an Act of Parliament of India enacted in 2003 to prohibit advertisement of, and to provide for the regulation of trade and commerce in, and production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products in India.

The DC said on Tuesday that the urban areas of Jamshedpur city have been declared as smoke-free zone and no one will now have the freedom to smoke in open in the no-smoke zone. Anyone violating the provision would have to face the punishment under COTPA. Even sale and distribution of tobacco products would now require licence from the administration. To implement the provisions of COTPA, the administration would also organise training camps for the concerned government employees.

The DC said that the state government had got a survey carried out to study the feasibility of enforcement of COTPA. Seeing the good performance of the East Singhbhum district, it was selected for making it a smoke-free zone.

The SSP Dr. M Tamil Vanan said that smoking in open would be an offence now. He said that the administration would also try to spread awareness. However, he made it clear that strict action would be taken against anyone who violates the provisions of COTPA.

The SSP said that tobacco is injurious for health and the provisions of COTPA would be enforced.

Both the DC and the SSP appealed to the citizens to comply with the law and avoid consuming tobacco products keeping the greater interest of the society in mind.