Zhang Yang
nicolezyyy@163.com
FOUR men were caught smoking in Luohu Metro Station when it was raided by law enforcers yesterday morning during spot checks joined by reporters and volunteers from the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association. Each of the smokers was fined 50 yuan (US$7.50) for violating the smoking ban.
All of the smokers were caught smoking beside trash cans inside the station, where no-smoking signs are posted on the walls and entrance gates.
One of the smokers, who had traveled to Shenzhen from Guangzhou, said he wasn’t aware of the smoking ban in Shenzhen and he didn’t notice the no-smoking signs in the station. “I wouldn’t smoke here if I saw the no-smoking signs. They should put the signs above the trash cans,” he said.
Zhu Zhenyong, a staffer at the Metro station, said the station would consider the smoker’s advice and put some no-smoking signs near trash cans and on the floor. According to Zhu, the station’s staffers have been deployed to patrol the station and discourage passengers from smoking indoors.
He said passengers would be asked to extinguish their cigarettes outside if they were found smoking in the station, since they are not allowed to litter cigarette butts in the station’s trash cans.
According to Liu Weiqiang, spokesperson of Shenzhen Metro Group’s operation and management office, an average of over 100 smokers are fined per week for smoking in the stations on Metro Line 1. But he said the situation is getting better as more passengers are becoming aware of the smoking ban and most are willing to abide by the rules.
The smoking ban, said to be the harshest of its kind in China, stipulates fines between 50 and 500 yuan for individual violators and up to 30,000 yuan for operators of nonsmoking venues who fail to comply with the ban, which was extended to all indoor areas Jan. 1 this year.
Three monthlong operations were launched by the city authorities in March, May and June to punish smoking-ban violators in leisure venues, restaurants, office buildings and hospitals citywide.
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