Two Spanish tourists, one from France, a suicidal taxi driver and a Railway employee on a lunch break — these people from diverse backgrounds had one thing in common on Friday— they were all issued challans at the New Delhi Railway Station for smoking on the second day of the blanket ban on smoking in public spaces.

As the government gears up to strictly implement the ban by doubling the number of squads meant to keep an eye on smokers to 16, Newsline followed the Central District Flying Squad keeping a vigil on Connaught Place and the New Delhi Railway Station area during the day and caught them in action at the railway station this morning:

10.30 am: Led by Dr K J S Bansal, Additional Chief District Medical Officer, a team of six officials leave their office in Paharganj to reach the New Delhi Railway station. Drive begins outside the railway station at the Ajmeri gate side at 11 am.

12.30 pm: With merely 10 challans issued in the morning, officials declare the day as ‘dull’. “I think most people know about the ban already,” says a ‘dejected’ Rajesh Bhardwaj, after dealing with an agitated smoker.

12.35 pm: Bhardwaj finds Zaeed, a taxi driver lighting a cigarette near the VIP parking stand. Frustrated over not finding a single customer all morning, Zaeed refuses to pay, picks up a brick and threatens to injure himself. His friend, who incidentally had pulled out a cigarette just before the crackdown, offered to pay for Zaeed after a cop intervened.

... contd.