The passage of the Act is itself a huge stride toward curbing smoking in public places and controlling unscrupulous sales of tobacco products, but a question arises how effective the much-awaited Act will be since there is no designated government authority for monitoring. [break]
The Act includes provisions for officials to inspect implementation of the new law, but the government seems not to have given due priority to this aspect as yet.
As per the Act, a committee headed by the health secretary has been set up to control and regulate tobacco products. The committee is also tasked with monitoring the inspection officials.
Ironically however, there are as yet no such officials for the committee to oversee. Health Secretary Dr Sudha Sharma, who is ex officio coordinator of the committee, said. “Some specific person, organization or ministry alone cannot implement this Act. It is our collective responsibility.”
According to Dr Sharma, the district administration offices (DAOs) are primarily responsible for enforcing the Act. “We have already written to them to take on responsibility for the monitoring,” Dr Sharma said. “The DAOs cannot shrug off their responsibility on the pretext of not having receive the letters as the Act has appeared in the gazette.”
However, Kathmandu Chief District Officer (CDO) Laxmi Dhakal says, “We are not clear about our role. The letter we received is not clear.” CDO Dhakal says he will be able to play his part in implementing the Act only after being properly informed.
“As of now, I do not know much about what the Act stipulates regarding the procedures for penalizing someone for smoking in public places or illegally selling tobacco products,” Dhakal said.
Shanta Lal Mulmi, whose Resource Centre for Primary Health Care (RCPHC) played the pivotal role in pressuring the government to pass the anti-tobacco Act, says, “We are toying with the idea of mobilizing city police for its implementation. We have approached Lalitpur and Bhaktapur municipalities. They have agreed in principal.”
The Act, which was signed by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav on April 29, bans smoking in public places, apart from prohibiting sales of tobacco products to pregnant women and people below the age of 18.
As per the Act, public places refer to government offices, educational institutions, airports, public transport, children homes, old-age homes, public toilets, work places at industries and factories, cinema halls or theatres, hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, hostels, guest houses, stadiums, fitness centers, department stores, mini markets, religious places, bus stops and ticket counters. However, certain smoking zones can be allowed in hotels.
The DAOs can slap a fine of Rs 100-100,000 on anyone who smokes in public places or sells tobacco products to people below 18 or to pregnant women.
In Nepal, women on average start smoking at the age of 23 while men start at 19. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), smokers suffer mainly from heart disease, respiratory problems and cancers, among other diseases.
In Nepal, tobacco companies manufacture around 7.5 billon sticks of cigarette every year. Last year alone, the government collected revenue of Rs 4.5 billion from the tobacco companies.
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