L J Ravi 
Bengaluru. 31 May. In a bid to expose the rampant smoking in public places thousands of cigarette and bidi butts were collected by NSS volunteers, citizens and civil society organizations across Bengaluru. All the collected butts were displayed at NIMHANS on the occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day’ urging all the MPs from Karnataka and the Union Health Ministry to get the principal tobacco control law COTPA (Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act) amended and make public places 100 per cent smoke-free.
The 3-week long campaign led by Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka and its coalition partners collected the butts from public places like bus stops, educational institutions, parks, government offices, hospitals, tea shops and hotels in different parts of Bengaluru like Jayanagar, JP Nagar, K R Market, Tumkur Road, M G Road, Shivajinagar, Chamrajpet, Sampangiramnagar and Rajajinagar.
As part of the World No Tobacco Day event, a panel discussion titled “Eliminating the cigarette and bidi butts by amending COTPA” was held. All the collected butts will be handed over to a waste management NGO for safe disposal. Children and youths submitted a memorandum to the MPs urging them to take steps to amend COTPA.
