Shops fined for tobacco slip-up

Five shops, including superstores, and seven people in Dhaka’s Mirpur were fined on Sunday for flouting the tobacco control law. A Dhaka mobile court fined Prince Bazar Tk 80,000, G-mart Tk 50,000, Gazi store Tk 10,000, and Sabuj Snacks Tk 5,000 for displaying tobacco products. A roadside stall was fined Tk 300 for selling cigarettes to an underage boy. This was the first cracking of the whip for selling cigarettes to minors since the passing of a law last year, Iqbal Masud, an assistant director of Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), said. DAM provides technical help to magistrates on anti-tobacco drives. Masud said the Sony cinema hall of Mirpur-2 had been fined Tk 1,000 for failing to fix a ‘tobacco-free’ sign in the building. He said seven people had been fined Tk 300 each for smoking in public places. The new law bans all forms of tobacco advertisements, even at selling outlets. Its violation could mean three months in jail or a maximum fine of Tk 100,000 or both. The penalty gets doubled for repeat offenders, according to bdnews24.com.