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Railways cold to smoking ban  

NAGPUR: The train ticket examiners (TTEs), who have been authorised to take action against those found smoking in trains and on railway platforms under the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules 2008, issued by the health ministry notification have failed to enforce the ban.

The Union ministry of health and family welfare notification issued on September 15, 2009, authorises TTEs and Railway Protection Force (RPF) assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) to take action against smokers at stations, trains, platforms, waiting rooms and reservation counters. However, passengers have complained that the rule was not being enforced and offenders were being let off.

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Now ticket examiners, railway force can act against smokers 

Smokers beware! Ticket examiners and Railway Protection Force (RPF) assistant sub-inspectors have been authorised to take action against those found smoking in trains and on railway platforms.

The health ministry has issued a notification in this regard.

As per the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules 2008, the law imposes strict ban on smoking in public places. Those found smoking in public places can be charged up to Rs.200.

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Railways to take action against those caught smoking 

PUNE: The railway authorities have decided to initiate a drive against those caught smoking at the railway station. Smoking is currently banned on all trains and railway stations but is not always enforced.

Now, a squad has been formed to monitor these places and create awareness. Wall posters and instructions have been put up at prominent places like platforms, reservation centres and waiting rooms.

According to an official, people still continue to smoke despite the ban. "We plan to restrict smoking and will try to keep the railway station premises clean. A fine will be imposed on the spot against offenders," he said. He said the no smoking' rule has not been effective due to lack of awareness among commuters. "So far, we have let off offenders after just a warning, but henceforth strict action will be taken against them," he added.

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Staff too busy to enforce smoking ban, say unions ($$) 

Two unions representing government workers said on Wednesday their members were too busy to hand out fixed-penalty tickets to people violating Hong Kong’s anti-smoking laws.

Their comments follow the extension on Tuesday of anti-smoking laws to include 48 public transport interchanges, bus terminals, wet markets, beaches and housing estates.

Some 2,200 staff from the Leisure and Cultural Service Department, 700 from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and 430 from the Housing Department are responsible for enforcing the new penalties.

But the Leisure Service Staff General Union and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Staff Rights Union, said its members could not perform these extra duties because they did not have sufficient manpower.

However, Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene Cheuk Wing-hing said most of his staff had assured him they would not ignore their new duties.

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VIDEO: Old Tobacco Warehouse Is Now A Train Station  

"The ceiling ... I love the ceiling," she said as she looked up with a smile. "The ceiling reminds me of the barn we used to put tobacco in."

Vincent was the first passenger ever to step foot into the newly renovated Walker Warehouse Building at 601 W. Main St. Almost exactly a year ago, crews started converting the old tobacco warehouse into a renovated 10,000 square foot Amtrak station.

"Because Durham is the 5th busiest station in the state, certainly we needed more room," said Joan Bagherpour, Communications Manager for the North Carolina Department of Transportation Rail Division.

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Tobacco-free trains initiative launched 

The Tobacco Control Cell of the Ministry of Health launched the tobacco-free trains initiative in connection with its various ongoing activities for World No-Tobacco Day.

Launched in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Railways, the initiative will lead to stringent measures being taken to prohibit smoking inside trains.

Divisional Superintendent Railways Jalaluddin Khan has declared all the 104 stations falling under his jurisdiction as tobacco-free.

"The Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance will be implemented in letter and spirit, and no one would be allowed to smoke inside the trains," Jalauddin pledged while speaking at a ceremony held at the Rawalpindi Railway Station here on Friday to mark the launching of the initiative. "Stern action will be taken against violators. Internal orders to this effect have already been circulated," he informed.

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• Overview of Smoking Policies by Cruise Line 

Hardly any single topic in our cruise forums attracts more interest than one entitled "Smoking policies on Cruise Ships."

Smoking issues on cruise ships can get very heated, and rarely do you see the opposing sides reach a meaningful point of compromise. So when the cruise lines have to create smoking policies the challenge is to try to please both sides, smoking and non-smoking passengers, at the same time. Not an easy thing to do!

This article will focus on the smoking policies of some of the major U.S.-based cruise lines, and what you can expect will happen once you actually get onboard.

First of all, there is no entirely smoke-free cruise line serving the North American market. While most cruise ships are largely smoke-free, all the cruise lines provide at least some areas for cigarette smokers, and even for pipe and cigar smokers. However, even cruise lines owned by the same parent corporations are not created equal, and some of them are far more restrictive than others.

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In the Paris Métro, Even Dead Legends Can't Smoke  

Whether it's "tobacco revisionism," as critics contend, or political correctness à la française, things have just gotten tougher for smokers in France — including those who've long kicked the habit in death. Métrobus, the company that handles display advertising for the Paris Métro and SNCF rail company, says it was obliged to refuse a poster for Coco, Before Chanel because it violates a 1991 law "prohibiting all direct or indirect advertising" for tobacco or alcohol in most public venues. . .

But Chanel and Tati aren't the first historical figures with (in)famous smoking addictions to have their cigarettes posthumously confiscated. In 1996, for example, France's postal service issued a stamp of French culture and political icon André Malraux using a well-known photo of him — though only after the smoldering butt visible in his hand in the original had been removed.

And in 2005, France's National Library used a celebrated shot of Jean-Paul Sartre to advertise its "Controversies" exhibit, but first airbrushed the ubiquitous clope from between his tobacco-stained fingers. In the end, the altered picture wound up joining the other controversial photos in the exhibition, after detractors noted the irony of the library's effort to erase that ever-present existential detail from the philosopher's life. . . .

Despite the gnashing of teeth all this tampering has prompted, the debate is sure to continue. After all, British director Guy Ritchie will presumably have to feature a pipe in ads for his upcoming movie about Sherlock Holmes, due out in France next year. And promising to be even more inflammatory, marketing will soon start on French director Joann Sfar's film about late French signer Serge Gainsbourg, a pop hero whose bad boy image was built on lavish public displays of tobacco and alcohol abuse. Good luck banning that.

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Paris bans posters of Coco Chanel star smoking  

The transport authority's decision to remove the posters because they were "unhealthy and inappropriate" was condemned as "ridiculous" by Chanel fans and even by the man who drew up France's draconian anti-smoking laws.

The posters show Tautou as the chain-smoking French creator of the little black dress gazing sensuously at the camera in silk pyjamas, with a cigarette smouldering in her right hand. . . .

The ban comes days after a poster of Jacques Tati, one of France's most enduring comic characters, was altered to conform to French rules prohibiting the "direct or indirect" promotion of tobacco products. The actor-director's trademark pipe was replaced with a yellow windmill - a move which one cinema expert said would have made him "die laughing".

Roselyne Bachelot, the health minister, admitted that the rules were being taken too far. "We're getting pretty ridiculous with this," she said.

Even Claude Evin, the politician behind a 1991 anti-smoking law, said the ban should not extend to "cultural heritage".

There is already concern that another film due out later this year about Serge Gainsbourg, the Gauloise-puffing crooner, will fall foul of the no smoking rules. One of his songs is entitled God smokes Havana cigars.

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Mr. Hulot's Pipe Censored By Paris Metro  

Jacques Tati's Mr Hulot, whose pipe was as much a trademark as his hat and beige raincoat, is seen riding his Velosolex motor scooter in a poster advertising a retrospective at the Cinematheque de Paris.

But the pipe has been replaced by a small colored whirligig by Metrobus, the group that manages advertising on Paris public transport . . .

A Metrobus spokesman appeared unperturbed, reacting with the kind of assurance in adversity that would have done Mr Hulot proud.

"I really don't understand what all the fuss is about," he said.

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Smoke or not smoke? MRT bin has ashtray with 'no-smoking' label 

STOMPer COG says this dustbin is confusing, as it is fitted with an ashtray and has a 'No Smoking' sticker pasted on it as well.

The STOMPer said:

"We realise that some of the dustbins with ashtrays always become a non-official smoking point.

"Most of the smokers make use of this spot to enjoy smoking.

But at this MRT station, we saw the dustbin with an ashtray, which also displayed the 'No Smoking, sign.

"It is confusing -- to smoke or not to smoke?"

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KAO: About time JR East banned smoking on platforms 

On April 1, nearly six years after private rail companies in the Tokyo area did so, the formerly government-owned JR East will ban smoking at all times from all platforms, removing all smoking areas. . . .

Why has JR East, the world's largest passenger railway company with nearly 17 million riders a day, been allowed to wait until now to follow the private lines' lead?

The easy answer is the weakness of the 2002 Health Promotion Law, which carried “no punishment for non-compliance,” according to Japan Times staff writer Masami Ito in a March 24 article. . . .

When I first started living in Japan, in 2002, I was surprised that McDonald's, KFC and other American subsidiaries allowed smoking. However, Starbucks was the only store that remained true to its roots. . . .

People can choose to smoke, but it shouldn't come at the expense of someone else's health. The government should protect all in Japan, not just Japan Tobacco and the 24 percent who smoke.

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IT considers new ban on smoking at transit centers  

Intercity Transit is considering a ban on smoking at its outdoor transit centers in Lacey and Olympia.

Agency staff members said they've received numerous complaints from riders in recent years about secondhand smoke and will ask Intercity Transit's governing board about toughening the existing policy.

"We think it is a health concern and worthy of discussion," said Meg Kester, an agency spokeswoman, in an e-mail.

The governing board will hear a staff report tonight, including the opinion of its lawyer, Tom Bjorgen. Staff members recommend scheduling a public hearing if the board wants to move forward with the expanded ban; it likely would be March 18. Bjorgen declined to comment Tuesday, saying he wanted the board to be the first to hear his legal advice.

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Russian lawmakers consider public smoking ban 

On the long-distance trains that criss-cross Russia, smokers lurk at the back of carriages; in airports they congregate in overcrowded smoking zones or male toilets to puff on cigarettes beside the urinals before boarding their flights.

Around 40 percent of all adults smoke, a parliamentary committee has estimated.

All that could change if Health Minister Tatyana Golikova has her way.

Parliament is considering her request to change the law and ban smoking in bars, nightclubs, restaurants and casinos with an area of under 50 sq metres (538 sq feet)

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Reader's letter, 29 January 1872: Smoking in railway carriages 

Sir. - You inserted two letters last Wednesday on "Smoking in railway carriages". You are aware that complaints similar to those by "Non-smoker" and "J. T. J." constantly appear all over the country in the "correspondence" columns of the press; but apparently with the smallest effect upon boards of direction, railway officials, and the servants of "the weed".

Thousands of people are every day at the mercy of "gentlemen" who, in supreme indifference to "by-laws", puff clouds of smoke into the faces of their fellow passengers. . . .

Does tobacco so blunt the perceptions and narcotise all that is polite, generous, and unselfish in otherwise well-bred persons, that they are able to enjoy that which by their practice of it robs others about them of all capacity for enjoyment? . . .

I repeat the words of "Non-smoker". I should be glad to know how railway officials may be made to enforce their by-laws. My own experience on most of the lines out of Manchester is that the by-laws on smoking are a dead letter, and that the smoking compartment relieves to a very small extent the nuisance against which, in common with a host of others, I most earnestly protest.

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