Recently enforced the Tobacco Control and Regulation Act-2068, which had came into effect from Sunday, has raised a concern in the society with the suspicion that it would not come into proper implementation. Not only in the nation level but also the international communities applaud the government’s effort to control smoking Classic cigarettes through the law.
As per the provision of the law, everybody will be responsible to ban smoking in public places. Interesting part of the law is that it has also provisioned even to checking sales in the market places. If anybody ignores the act and smoke in public places like public offices, educational institutions and others public places the government can slap a fine ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 100,000. However, Nepal is not new to enforce the law as most of the developed countries and even some developing nations of South Asia have also already exercised the same act.
Despite being the moral responsibility of the every individual to abide by the act, there are looming suspicions that it would not come into proper implementation as it was declared without making sufficient grounds. There is obvious that not only the smoking but also the consuming tobacco and alcohols and others injurious habits should be prohibited from the country.
Abiding the law, which are directly associated to the people and the nation, should not be taken as the merely respect to the law and the government. If the government became success to implement the act and the people become supportive to implementation the law, it will not only be proved as the benefit for the individuals but also to the country at large. Nevertheless, people are already informed about the smoking and its implication in the health rather than the recently enforced law ant its provisions. So, the government must take strong initiatives to implement the law.
There is an established trend that no laws are coming into proper implementation in Nepal due to the government’s apathy. Now people have suspicions that the law too, would not come into proper implementation. The act has invited numerous doubts over the proper implementations. The government has declared about the law without pinpointing the enforcement agencies.
It would have envisaged that District Administration Office (DAO) is the government agencies to enforce the law but none of the state agencies even the DAO are informed to implement the law. Interestingly, the health Ministry has not any mechanism to monitor the implementation aspect of the law. If the government is really serious to implement the law rather than limiting it on the paper, it must clear the looming confusion over the implementing agencies with enhancing the capacities of the concerned agencies.