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34 public smokers booked so far

05.10.2006 11:07 Fiji - Source: fijitimes

In just three days of monitoring, 34 people have been booked for smoking in public service vehicles.

The Ministry of Health's Tobacco Control Enforcement Unit officer-in-charge Ifereimi Corerega said 28 cases were still under investigation, while six were being vetted by the Director of Public Prosecution's Office.

"My officers wear civilian clothes and board public vehicles. We do not have anyone waiting at check points. There have been a few remote incidences and these mainly occur in the outer city areas,"Mr Corerega said.

He said support from the public had been good since the surveillance began on Monday.

"I would advise members of the public to smoke before or after you board a public service vehicle,"he said.

Mr Corerega said the Land Transport Authority was yet to join the surveillance operation.

"We gave LTA officers time to recuperate since they just finished the Operation Cina with police,"he said.

"We were supposed to go out on the field and start last week but could not do that because of the weather. We conducted training on traffic infringements last Friday.

"At the training, the officers were given reflector vests and divided into teams.

LTA chief executive officer Abraham Simpson would not comment on the campaign.

"We're not just focusing on smoking. We have 100 offences that we deal with,"Mr Simpson said.

He said earlier that the authority was tasked by the Government to reduce the vehicle emission levels by 50 per cent by the year 2011.

The new initiative was launched after the authorities recognised that smoke emissions from motorised vehicles and cigarette smoking in public transport vehicle had a negative impact on the health and safety of the travelling public and Fiji's environment.

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