ITA slams AP anti-smoking law; terms it draconian

bangalore: the indian tobacco association has described as draconian the ‘andhra pradesh prohibition of smoking...act’, which was passed on march 27. in a press release issued here on friday, ita has said it welcomed the supreme court decision to protect the interests of non-smokers, but said the ap legislation had added provisions detrimental to the interests of the industry in general and the state’s one lakh tobacco growers and the five lakh farm workers in particular. ita regretted that the ap government had not followed the example of its counterpart in karnataka, which had introduced a bill covering the directions of the supreme court, but had also taken care of the interests of the 70,000 tobacco farmers in the state. for instance, regarding the stipulation in the ap act that no person could store, sell or distribute smoking substances within 100 metres of educational institutions, ita observed that as layout and zoning regulations were not being strictly enforced, this, in effect, meant that it would be impossible for a smoker to smoke in any part of a city or town in any part of andhra pradesh. the enforcement of this provision would, ita added, lead to large-scale unemployment and distress, as cigarette retailing was mostly conducted through small shops and outlets run by self-employed persons. vis-à-vis the ap act’s ban on the advertising of smoking substances in any place, ita had observed that this would see a consumer-shift from high-priced and high-quality products to low-priced and low-quality products, thereby affecting purchases of high-quality tobacco from growers. regarding the ap act’s stipulation that the government could, by notification, declare any place of public work or public use as a non-smoking place, the ita observed that the supreme court had specified public places and that any further addition by the state government, including the 100-metre restriction clause, would only cripple the industry. regarding the ap act’s stipulation on the ejection of violators of the provisions from any place of public work or use, ita maintained that this would only result in unnecessary harassment of civilians, leading to corrupt practices by the enforcement authorities. ita noted that ap was the largest tobacco producer in the country, contributing more than rs 1,000 crore through exports and rs 6,500 crore through excise duty every year. with tobacco growers already facing a glut, due to declining consumption trends in both the international and domestic markets, ita expressed apprehensions that the ap act would aggravate the existing hardship and even lead to suicides by desperate farmers. the ita, therefore, has requested the ap government to take a pragmatic view and denotify the provisions in the act.