Shillong, Jul 22 (PTI) In a crackdown on tobacco-related violations, Meghalaya Police have issued over 1,100 challans and collected nearly Rs one lakh in fines from individuals smoking in public in East Khasi Hills district alone, officials said on Tuesday.

Smoking in public places is a punishable offence under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003.

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"We have collected close to Rs 1 lakh in fine and issued 1,100 challans to individuals who ignored the enforcement of COTPA in past three months," a police officer told PTI.

The campaign, which resulted in 1,178 challans and fines totalling Rs 99,280 in just three months, has garnered strong support from the public and is being widely praised as a timely intervention to safeguard community health, he said.

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The intensified enforcement drive, part of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), implemented by the state Health department and the National Health Mission (NHM) is being carried out across all police stations, outposts and beat houses in the district.

Personnel from Cantonment Beat House and Lumdiengjri Police Station have detained several individuals for smoking in public places and for selling tobacco products near educational institutions, a senior police officer in charge of the campaign, said.

Authorities clarified that the operation is not merely punitive, but aims at encouraging behavioural change and protecting vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and non-smokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

"Smoking remains a serious public health threat, accounting for 40 per cent of all cancer types and 90 per cent of oral cancer cases," a senior official in the Health department said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)