Think twice before lighting a cigarette at historic Fort St. George that houses the state Secretariat. Henceforth, the Secretariat will be a strict ‘No smoking zone’ with the public department issuing a written warning to all shops there not to sell cigarettes. The written warning has been issued after they failed to adhere to the earlier oral instructions.
On Wednesday morning, visitors to the Secretariat found it tough to buy a cigarette from the shops. A few shop-owners were selling them in a hush-hush way, while a few others said outright that they were not selling cigarettes.
“Secretariat officials, on Tuesday, issued a communication which read sale of cigarette was banned on the premises. So, we want to dispose of the existing stocks as soon as possible and have stopped taking new stocks,” a shop-owner said on Wednesday, and was seen appealing to customers not to light cigarettes near the shop.
“Considering that the discarded butts can cause a fire, we have decided to prevent shop-owners from selling cigarettes. However, we cannot take action against them since the defence department owns the shops. But we will lodge a complaint with the corporation,” sources said. We are also considering action against smokers on the premises.
The secretariat officials had earlier warned shop-owners orally to stop selling cigarettes after the fire tragedy at the centuries old heritage structure ‘Kalas Mahal’. As the shop-owners continued to sell cigarettes, the public department officials swung into action with the written warning.