The Health Minister’s proposal to impose fines upto Rs 15,000 if they failed to prevent their employees from smoking in public areas of their office premises was termed unfair by most respondents. Many were of the opinion that it is not right for the employers to shell out money for their employees violating the law. They felt companies should have smoking zones for their employees.
However, a few were of the opinion that imposing hefty fines was the right step if the law has to be effective as in most western countries.
These are a few responses from the public who spoke to Deccan Herald.
Smoking bays should be set up in workplaces to avoid smoking in the office premises. But if the government wants to curb smoking totally then this is the first and right step in that regard.
Yogesh Raje Urs, Banker
It’s definitely a positive step. This, in fact, is a step forward and would keep bad health and filthy work environment at bay.
Anagha Gunjal, Media Executive.
Definitely, there should be a ban on smoking in public places. It should be done in private.
Vasanth,
Entertainment Professional
Phillip Mathew,
Media Consultant
Instead of imposing such hefty fines, the Health Minister should have insisted on making it mandatory to have smoking zones in workplaces.
Prashant M Hallur,
HR Executive
Forcing employers to pay hefty fines would be effective, as lesser fines will not make much difference to the corporates.
Ankitha, Student
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS...
In Hong Kong, where smoking is banned in public places, the violator has to pay 5,000 HK dollars (Rs 25,000).
Dr Prathima Murthy, Head of De-addiction Centre, NIMHANS, :
“Studies have proved that when you have rigid rules against smoking at workplaces, productivity of employees increases while also cutting down the ill-effects of passive smoking. It also acts as a dis-incentive to early smokers who are non-addicted. Only effective enforcement of rules can bring a positive result. So, a provision for imposing fine on employers if their employees smoke, is the only way to make them enforce anti-smoking rules against employees.” On the provision of separate smoking zones, Dr Pratima said, “Checking smoking completely at the workplace is the best solution, and will also help reduce the overall percentage of smokers. Although separate smoking zones can give some relief to addicts, it can injure their health even more if such places have imperfect ventilation.”
