Kick the butt or pay up after Oct 2, warns Ramadoss

Ramadoss said the government is empowering school principals, post masters, railway station masters, NGOs and even your boss to book you if you're caught smoking in a public place. He said that the government will continue with its anti-tobacco drive in the form of a ban on smoking in public places from Gandhi Jayanti, and pictorial warning on tobacco products will start from December 1. The pictorial warning will comprise of lacerated body parts of cancer patients and carry a tag line tobacco kills. It will be mandatory for all tobacco companies to carry the pictorial warnings. Focusing on the tobacco menace among the youth, he said that 13 per cent children in the age group of 13-16 years consume tobacco. In order to address this major concern, the government has allocated Rs 22 lakh to each district for creating awareness among people and especially among students. Ramadoss said a number of tobacco de-addiction clinics would come up to help smokers quit. To begin with the government will start 100 clinics and ask medical colleges and district hospitals to open such centres. Last month, the cabinet approved Rs 6 crore for an anti-tobacco drive and promotion of medicinal plants in the country. National Medicinal Plants Boards and National Tobacco Board will make efforts to wean away tobacco growing farmers from tobacco to medicinal plants.