Assessment of implementation and compliance of (COTPA) Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (2003) in open places of Delhi

Irfan Ali; Basavaraj Patthi; Ashish Singla; Kuldeep Dhama; Mohnish Muchhal; Ananthalekshmy Rajeev; Monika Kumari; Ambar Khan

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_24_20

Assessment of implementation and compliance of (COTPA) Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (2003) in open places of Delhi

J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Jun 30;9(6):3094-3099. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_24_20. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

Irfan Ali¹, Basavaraj Patthi¹, Ashish Singla¹, Kuldeep Dhama¹, Mohnish Muchhal¹, Ananthalekshmy Rajeev¹, Monika Kumari¹, Ambar Khan¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Background: The use of tobacco in modern life leads to major epidemic disease resulting in social, financial, and environmental problems. In 1975, the first anti-tobacco legislation was passed which was incompetent; however, in 2003 "Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Bill" was passed which represents effectiveness in tobacco control. Thus, the aim was to assess the implementation of various sections of COTPA like Sections 4, 5, 6-a, and 6-b, and 7, 8, and 9 in public places of Delhi.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted in open places of Delhi in which 376 public places were visited for observing the compliance of Section 4 of COTPA, 350 places for observing the compliance of Section 5 of COTPA, and 70 educational institutions for observing the compliance of Section 6(a) and 6(b) of COTPA, and data were recorded through direct observation.

Results: From a total of 376 places visited, smoking was seen in 59.28% of the places visited in Delhi which is against Section 4 of COTPA. For the compliance of Section 5, 97.42% were as per the COTPA specification; however, the compliance of Section 6-a was 68.57% and Section 6-b was 52.85%. In Delhi, 100% compliance of Sections 7, 8, and 9 has been observed.

Conclusion: The finding of our study suggests that after years of implementation of the COTPA Act 2003, it is executed only to a certain degree in Delhi. For effective implementation of act, various health policy makers, institutions, media, NGOs, and so on can help in minimizing the usage.

Keywords: Compliance; India; World Health Organization; smoking; tobacco.