The report about the ban on smoking published in The Telegraph on May 21, 2011, and (below) a smoker puffs at a public place in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

If official records are anything to go by, nobody smokes in public in the state.

The state health department imposed ban on smoking at public places on May 20 last year, two-and-a half years after most of the states implemented it. But nearly a year on, nobody was prosecuted for breaching the ban.

The reality is far from picture-perfect, though. People do smoke in public in the city and the state.

According to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003, smoking at all places to which the public has access, including auditoriums, health institutions, government buildings, restaurants, courts, public conveyances, public transport, stadiums, railway stations, bus stops, workplaces, shopping malls, refreshment rooms and airport lounges, attracts a fine of up to Rs 200. But there is hardly anybody to pull up the offenders in the state.

When the state health department imposed the ban last year, it said drugs and food inspectors as well as police would be authorised to issue challans to those found smoking in public places. But the rule remained confined to the book, triggering poser on the government’s seriousness in executing it. “The order has only remained on paper. The government lacks the conviction in effectively rooting out the tobacco menace,” said Soham Kumar, a resident of Bank Colony. The health department, one of its officials said, had been seeking the home department’s co-operation in sending written instructions to superintendents of police (SPs) to enforce the law. Sanjay Kumar, executive director, Bihar State Health Society, said the health department had been requesting the home department to sensitise the police to enforce the act.

“Awareness and enforcement of the act have remained problem areas in the state. We have been seeking help of the home department officers to ensure implementation of the act. Only recently we started tying up with non-government organisations (NGOs) of international repute like Population Services International to create awareness among all stakeholders,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

Another source said principal secretary of home department Amir Subhani had sent letters to all SPs, asking them to ensure implementation of the act in their respective jurisdiction. But they seem to have had no effect on the officers concerned. Director-general of police Abhayanand said he would not be able to comment on the implementation of the act in the state. Earlier this month, the state government constituted a 17-member committee under the chairmanship of the health department principal secretary, Amarjeet Sinha, for effective implementation of the act in the state. The committee comprises senior government officers and members of civil society.