Smoking in the public places of Dhaka city: An analysis of the current situation

Dhaka is one of the densely populated and largest metropolitan cities in the world. Along with having so many problems, city dwellers here have been facing a serious problem regarding reckless smoking habits in the public places. Understanding the intensity of smoking everywhere, the Government of Bangladesh introduced an Act to restrict smoking in public places. The study has been carried out using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. To collect primary data, interviewer assisted surveys were taken whereas secondary data has been collected from different resources. The situation was supposed to be in control whereas the reality is a different one. People still in the city smoke recklessly everywhere even after being educated and concerned about the banning of smoking in the public places. This has been occurring continuously due to no punishment for smoking in public places; no government provided smoking zone and availability of smoking materials everywhere. Thus it seems to be a pure policy failure. The government must focus more on this issue immediately as smoking is harmful not only for the smokers but also for the nonsmokers too. Strict punishment should practically be given to those who smoke in public places. Besides, smoking zones should be established in different points of the city and the selling of smoking materials must be controlled.