Mumbai, February 5: Maharashtra may soon become the first state in the country to ban tobacco chewing in public places, just six years after smoking was banned and made an offence.
CM Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that he will personally explore the options of making Tobacco chewing in public an offence. He said, “It is one of the measures to stop tobacco consumption in the state that I am going to look into personally.” Showing his concern over the increasing number of youngsters and school children getting addicted to it, he said that tobacco would be barred in all public places, offices, and hospitals, as per the laws set by the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).
Fadnavis admitted that he has to fill the loopholes that have been holding back the implementation of Tobacco control in public.
According to a Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) study published in 2010, the total population consuming tobacco stood at 25,899,273, of which 10,359,709 may die prematurely because of tobacco-related cancers and other diseases.
