Hyderabad: Selling loose cigarettes out of the pack and having lighters and matchboxes in shops for customers is against the law and those doing so will be booked by the police, the head of the National Tobacco Control Team said. On Wednesday, a 20-member team booked several men for smoking in public places and also imposed fines and challans on the shop vendors for not selling cigarettes in a pack.
Speaking to this newspaper, Dr K. Anusha, head of the NTCT team, said that selling cigarettes without the box in loose quantity was a violation of the law and they (vendors) could be booked for encouraging smokers.
“The raids were conducted in the Panjagutta area of the city on Wednesday, since we have detected that it is the most happening area and also because the police cooperation was good.
“The checking was done by our team along with a sub-inspector from the Panjagutta police station and a local municipal officer,” she said.
G. Venkateswarlu, the sub-inspector who was deployed from the Panjagutta police station, said that 10 challans were issued and the men who were caught smoking were fined between Rs 50 and Rs 100.
“The raids were conducted at Panjagutta cross roads, GVK Mall surroundings and the market area. By keeping lighters and matchboxes in their shops for customers to smoke, the vendors are encouraging them and it is leading to public smoking, which is a clear violation of the law and is an offence,” he said.
Sources from the police said that such raids were likely to happen unannounced in the coming days and warned people not to smoke at public places.
