MARGAO: Undeterred by the warning signs, smoking has risen at an alarming rate among people in South Goa despite the police claiming that they have strictly implemented laws prohibiting smoking and spitting in public places.

Cigarette butts are strewn everywhere, particularly by pedestrians and people travelling in trains and buses, or even those riding two-wheelers, bearing testament to the fact that the habit continues in public, unabated.

Even spaces that are touted to be out of bounds for smokers are not spared. It has become a common sight to spot smokers at hospitals, amusement centres, restaurants and lounges, public offices, bus terminals, on ferry boats, beaches and in public gardens, thereby virtually throwing the government’s no-smoking zone mandate out of the window.

After having implemented the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997, with a lot of enthusiasm, police stations in South Goa booked a total of 6,625 cases of violations up to December 10. The highest number of 1,402 smokers was booked in Ponda, followed by 782 at Canacona, 882 at the Vasco railway station, 605 in the Curchorem police station’s jurisdiction, and 561 at Cuncolim.

Interestingly, Margao, which is the heart of the district and attracts people from virtually all over the state on a regular basis, has only 506 cases under the smoking and spitting Act, while 355 have been booked by the Fatorda police and 187 by the Maina-Curtorim police.

Enforcement appears to be lax in the tourist hub of Colva, too, which has only two cases of violations booked. Also, just one case has been registered in the sprawling jurisdiction of the Verna police station, which includes the Verna industrial estate.

In Mormugao, another South Goa hub, a mere 25 violations have been booked, while Vasco has logged 70.