Goa’s nondescript bars, which usually also serve as smoking holes, have turned into ‘no-smoking zones’ just within 48 hours after the Central Government’s anti-smoking law came into force.
It’s 9.30 p m on Sunday, the usual time when the invariable cocktail of smoke and drinks run high in these bars. But now, the drinks are downed without a smoke, while few are seen struggling to get accustomed to the change.
The air inside this poorly-lit eight-table dingy bar in the heart of Panaji is smoke-free now. Prior to the ban, the air used to be full with smoke with almost every table having at least one smoker breathing out from his lungs.
“People request that I allow them to smoke at least one cigarette which they generally require with every peg of liquor.
But I don’t want to take any chance. Ban means ban,” says bar owner and retired photojournalist Prashant Elekar.
Elekar conceded that almost 90 per cent of the people, who frequent here are smokers and inevitably light a cigarette with their drink.
The change is imminent though Goa is yet to start booking people for violating the two-day-old central law which prohibits smoking at public places and excludes spots like beaches and parks from the no smoking zones.
“We have stopped people from smoking. The result is exciting. It helps me too. I myself have reduced my cigarettes from 30 to just two a day as I am on the bar counter all the day,” Elekar, in his late 40s, said.
There are some who are forced to go out for smoke standing on the road and return for another peg. “But how many times will they go out? It becomes tedious for them and hence they prefer to drink without smoking,” he explains.
Courtesy: Hindu
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