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According to the ministry, the Public Health Inspectors Union launched several programmes across the country to educate locals on the ill effects of smoking and as a result, shop owners and businessmen in many towns stopped selling cigarettes.
Twenty-two towns in Jaffna, 17 towns in Matara and 16 towns in Kurunegala joined others in boycotting the sale of cigarettes. Currently, 107 towns are part of the drive, Xinhua news agency reported.
Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, while expressing satisfaction over the numbers, said they hope to increase these figures to 200 in 2019.
The Sri Lankan government in recent years has taken several steps to discourage smoking and the sale of cigarettes.
Among these steps were increasing the tax on tobacco up to 90 per cent, increasing the area of pictorial warning on the cigarette pack to 80 per cent, banning the sale of cigarettes around a radius of 100 metres from schools and declaring public places as non-smoking zones.
The government is also considering a ban on tobacco cultivation by 2020.
Sources: Xinhua, Agencies
It appears highly self-serving and myopic to use the word "fascist" to describe efforts to control public exposure to smoke. I agree that your personal health choices shouldn't be a matter addressed by law. Its entirely your business to do the cost/benefit analysis, as well as live with the consequences, of the choices you make. That said, I hugely appreciate that I can go to any public place now and not have to breathe anyone's cigarette smoke. I'm old enough to remember how oppressive it was when smokers considered it their right to smoke whenever and wherever they wanted. Laws limiting the smoker from inflicting polluted air on others have greatly improved awareness on the part of most smokers about the effect this habit can have on others.
So more power to Sri Lanka! I'm sure their efforts will elevate livability for everyone.