Bars not stubbing out

Updated on: 02 November,2009 10:18 AM IST |
MiD DAY Correspondent |

Study says restaurants and bars in Delhi are openly flouting the ban on smoking in public

Study says restaurants and bars in Delhi are openly flouting the ban on smoking in public

Even after a year of the ban on smoking in public places and having paid more than Rs 40 lakh in fines to the government, Delhi is still lighting up.u00a0

While among the seven places where smoking was not allowed inside the premises, only five had proper 'no smoking' signboards.

Dr PP Bhatnagar of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), the NGO that conducted the survey, said, "The average level of fine particle air pollution at the five locations where smoking was allowed was 18 times higher than the seven where customers were not allowed to light up indoors. The level of fine particle air pollution at the locations where smoking was allowed was 64 times higher than the WHO air quality guidelines."

Binoy Mathew of VHAI, who conducted the study in Delhi, said, "We collected air samples from inside the restaurants with an imported device called SidePak. We went to the restaurants and stayed there for more than 45 minutes during peak rush hours. I observed that employees and customers in those places were
at increased risk of adverse health effects, especially heart attacks, lung cancer and serious respiratory illnesses."

60 per cent
Bars-cum-restaurants across the country have been found to be openly disregarding the anti-smoking ban, says the study

46,531
People in Delhi fined for smoking in public in a year

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