Muhammed Rubayet
According to a bulletin published in the officialwebsite of World Health Organisation it is written that “More than half of Bangladeshi men over the age of 25 years smoke cigarettes or bidis, small handmade cigarettes containing about one fourth the amount of tobacco found in cigarettes”. In Bangladesh, and specially Dhaka City, the capital city of Bangladesh majority of the public bus drivers are men as the streets have not yet become women driver friendly.These male drivers, who are mostly less educated or uneducated drivers do not comply with the tobacco control law. Now, the journey in the public transport in this fast moving citywith having a hot, humid temperature becomes a nightmare rather than a comfortable and peaceful journey.In thejournal ofEuropean Respiratory Review it has been written”Nonsmokers who breathe other people’s smoke (i.e. involuntary smoking) inhale the same carcinogens as active smokers, although at much lower doses”.Sad but true that this health issue in public transportare overlooked as it can cause severe health damagesto the human body of the staff and the commuters.
The Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector conductedcross-sectional survey was carried out on 22 routes in Dhaka City when 417 non-air-conditioned public buses (city service buses) were observed and each bus was observed once on the month of October in the capital in 2019. It was found that 100% buses were found not to comply with tobacco control law. Moreover, 91.3% buses drivers/helpers were seen to directly smoke in the buses during the survey. Almost 100% buses were found not to display any ‘no smoking signage’ in the buses. Almost 9 out of 10 public buses in Dhaka city were found with smoking instance(s). However, the survey result has a wider gap with the law as according to section-4 of Bangladesh Tobacco Control Law it is prohibited to smoke in public places and public transport. There are some provisions kept for punishments if the law is broken in public.If anyone violates this law by smoking in public then he/she can be fined 300 Bangladeshi Taka for the first time and the amount would be doubled if he/she does it again for the second consecutive time. On the other hand, the drivers/helpers use a trick by dropping the small cigarette/bidiswhenever theya traffic police approaching near them in the street. As a matter of the fact that the drivers and helpers are getting wayby violating the law but without getting any punishment by using tricks.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) with the support of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector and Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids arranged a physical meeting on 7 September, 2020, Monday where the DAM conducted survey of the bus baseline survey was disseminated where BRTA and Bus Owners Association Members were present.
The Bus Owners should also use the cautionary signage where it would have to be written in English and Bangla that “Smoking causes death”. When people read that smoking can cause them death then for once they would take the matter seriously and shouldrefrain from smoking in the public buses.
The Chairman of BRTA and Additional Secretary of Bangladesh Government Mr. Noor Mohammad Mazumder said,”Permanent no smoking signage will be used during providing fitness certificate by BRTA. He believed that 90% of the professional drivers can be made aware through different kinds of awareness programs (drivers’ orientation, human chain, short youtube videos)and the rest 10% of the professional drivers would have to be punished through proper implementation of the law”. He also hoped that if BRTA and all association, enforcement agencies (police), drivers and labors will work together and actively follow the law then it is possible to achieve the honorable Prime Minister’s declaration “Making Tobacco Free Bangladesh by 2040″ before targeted time.
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Lead Consultant, Dr. Shariful Islam said,”That a clause should be included in the driving license about no smoking in the public transport during managing/controlling the transport as per law”.
The bus drivers and helpers are not privileged with the beauty of education or light of civilization plus they have the unhealthy mentality of taking advantage of the passengers’dependency on them in streets.The law enforcement agencies have a crucial role to play to control the use of tobacco products in public transport and mass awareness programs by concerned authoritieshave to be used to make them aware of theharmful health problems that can occur from using tobacco products and legal consequences of violating the law.
The writer, Muhammed Rubayet is working as Media Manager, Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector (Tobacco Control Project).
