Kiosks keep 100-metre ‘safe’ distance, sell tobacco near schools, colleges

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, July 19

It is a familiar sight. Maintaining a safe ‘legal’ distance of 100 metre from schools and colleges, several tobacco and cigarette kiosks are operating at a stone’s throw from educational institutions on Ladowali road; two kiosks are selling tobacco products with impunity near Fentonganj Girls Senior Secondary School; and in the vicinity of a college, a kiosk owner selling chips and mineral water, upon special request, assures that a ‘beedi’ would be made available.

Operational since long

The kiosks near the Fentonganj school have been running for years. We have been conducting raids, but they continue to operate. We are aware that in some areas, tea vends are clandestinely selling tobacco and cigarettes. Surinder Saini, Anti-tobacco task force member

All this, despite a ban on the sale of tobacco products within a 100-m radius of educational institutes under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Act, 2022. As per Section 6 of the Act, “No person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit sale of, cigarette or any other tobacco product — to or by any person who is under 21 years of age and in an area within a radius of 100 metres of any educational institution”.

In various areas visited by this correspondent, most tobacco kiosks were at a distance of over a 100 m. However, near Mandi Fentonganj school, two tobacco stalls are stationed at the extended boundary wall of the school in the railway station area, where anti-social elements abound. Over 100 ft away — on the other side of the school — a liquor vend operates. Students cross these vends daily.

Asked about the state of affairs, traffic personnel shrug their shoulders. “This issue pertains to the railway police, we only regulate traffic. Even traffic barricades are soiled with ‘paan’ spits in the morning, which we clean. Brawls are common, too. We don’t know why a vend is allowed to operate so close to a school.”

The officiating school principal, Deepali Vij, also expressed her helplessness, saying, “We have received complaints regarding tobacco vends, but we can’t remove them. Only the administration can do that.”

A college principal, however, believes that things have improved. The stretch in front of HMV-DAV colleges — across the road under the DAV College flyover — was notorious for “shady kiosks” years ago, forcing 10 colleges to complain to the police. A naka was set up in 2013 and some order prevailed.

Surinder Saini, a member of the district anti-tobacco task force, says, “The kiosks near the Fentonganj school have been running for years. We have been conducting raids, but they continue to operate. We are aware that in some areas, tea vends are clandestinely selling tobacco and cigarettes.”

Though DC Himanshu Aggarwal asserts that at health committee meetings, officials are asked to frequently review the implementation of the Act and take action against violators, for now, it seems that the kiosk owners are one up on the law enforcement agencies.