Five vendors were fined a total of ₹5,500 on Wednesday for violating the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, during a joint enforcement drive by multiple departments in Chandigarh.
Three of the vendors operate in Manimajra while the other two are in Sector 16.
The drive also led to the destruction of 255 packets of loose cigarettes worth ₹34,500 by retailers and vendors, while the excise department seized illegal or imported cigarettes worth ₹3,300 from the wholesale market for lacking the mandatory 85% pictorial health warning on their packaging.
The joint team comprised officials from the health and family welfare, police, excise and taxation, legal metrology, and food safety and drug control departments.
Dr Suman Singh, director, health and family welfare, Chandigarh, said such raids would continue through a permanent task force constituted by the UT administration.
She said the drives are aimed at raising public awareness about the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), COTPA, 2003, and the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA), 2019, as well as the harmful effects of tobacco consumption and the need to prevent the sale of illegal imported cigarettes.