Private offices and other establishments can no longer have designated rooms for puffing cigarettes as the ban on smoking in public places would be enforced strictly from October 2, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Tuesday.
    
"From October 2, the government would introduce the no smoking policy in all indoor establishments," Ramadoss told reporters in Bangalore on the sidelines of a function.
    
"Smoking will not be permitted in any private or public building. Companies can no longer have designated smoking rooms. Smokers will have to step outside into open space if they wish to smoke," Ramadoss said.
    
The government would also embark upon an advertisement campaign on the "no-smoking" policy, the minister said.
    
The proposed pictorial warning on all tobacco products would come into force from December 1, he added. Giving an Indian perspective to the tobacco problem, the health minister said nearly a million people die owing to tobacco related health problems. Though the tobacco usage had dropped from 52 per cent to 26 per cent in the US, in India the number had increased from 15 per cent to 26 per cent.
    
Ramadoss said the ministry was also actively pursuing with the World Health Assembly to declare October 2 as World No-Alcohol Day. It was making efforts to push this agenda so that it could be brought into force from next year or the following year.
    
In India, the average age at which a youth is introduced to alcohol has fallen from 28 to 19 and now 13.5. A World Health Organisation study revealed that 14 per cent of 13-15 years had been using tobacco products.
    
Chandigarh, Bangalore, Delhi [Images] and Chennai were found to be among the highest drug usage incidents by youngsters, the minister said while calling for some "tough measures".