Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

NO violations of the smoking ban were found in two anti-smoking raids at Yinhu Bus Station and Futian Bus Terminal, where spot checks were conducted Monday and yesterday by law enforcers along with reporters and volunteers recruited by the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Association.

Song Dali, deputy head of Futian Bus Terminal in Zhuzilin area, said great effort has been made by the station since 2013 to create a smoke-free environment for passengers. He said the station has deployed patrollers to discourage passengers from smoking in the station.

“Many passengers are self-disciplined and well-aware of the smoking ban. We can barely find passengers smoking inside the station now,” he said.

The smoking ban, said to be the harshest of its kind in China, stipulates fines between 50 and 500 yuan (US$7.65-76.57) for individual violators and up to 30,000 yuan for operators of nonsmoking venues that fail to comply with the ban, which was extended to all indoor areas Jan. 1 this year.

Four monthlong operations were launched by the city authorities in March, May, June and August to conduct spot checks at leisure venues, restaurants, office buildings, hospitals and parks citywide to punish smoking-ban violators. A total of 113 smokers were each fined 50 yuan for violating the smoking ban during the four operations.