Voluntary organisations working for tobacco control on Saturday welcomed the Rajasthan government’s decision to ban spitting in public places and institutions. They said the measure would help to prevent transmission of COVID-19.
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The activists also demanded a complete ban on sale, distribution and advertisement of tobacco products as a part of the efforts to control the pandemic.
The State government has banned the spitting of betel leaf, any chewable tobacco or non-tobacco products or sputum in public places and institutions under the Rajasthan Epidemic Diseases Act, 1957. Any violation would invite penal action under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.
Additional Chief Secretary (Medical & Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said it was necessary to place restrictions on the “unhealthy habits” of people.
Groups that have undertaken a sustained campaign for tobacco control in the last four years said the ban on sale of tobacco and its products would not only help in containment of COVID-19 but would also strengthen the government’s ‘Nirogi Rajasthan’ campaign which was launched in December 2019 to create awareness of diseases and their prevention.
Risk to tobacco users
Jayesh Joshi, secretary of the Banswara-based VAAGDHARA, a non-governmental organisation, said the smokers and tobacco-users were at a higher risk of infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned of virus transmission from hand to mouth while smoking.
The reduced lung capacity of smokers exposes them to serious illnesses.
Mr. Joshi, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot before the ban on spitting was imposed, said the WHO had lauded the State government’s decision to regulate the sale and consumption of tobacco twice in the past. “It is high time the manufacture, sale and distribution of tobacco products were banned in Rajasthan. Several other States have imposed a similar ban on pan masala,” he said.
Though the State government had authorised municipal bodies in 2018 to regulate the sale of tobacco products, the vendors violating the rules pay a petty fine and return to selling tobacco. Activists have been pressing for a vendor licensing mechanism, with rules framed under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.
