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• No pictorial warning? Beware of the squad 

Manufacturers and retailers of cigarettes and tobacco products in the city could be in for a tough time on May 31, World No Tobacco Day, and the days following.

Starting Sunday, several three-member police squads will be doing the rounds in Chennai, covering petty shops and retail outlets to check whether pictorial warnings against smoking are printed on tobacco packs, mandatory as per specifications provided by the Union health ministry. Each team will comprise a police official, health officer and school headmaster. Violations would attract fines, with or without imprisonment, commissioner of police K Radhakrishnan said here on Monday.

At a function organised by the directorate of public health to flag off the campaign van, Radhakrishnan said that his department would ensure that the rule was followed for the sake of a healthy future. "In my own family I have seen members suffer because of tobacco. They have faced the direct consequences it," he told reporters.

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