Authorities in the Chinese capital, Beijing, said on Monday that they have banned smoking in public places and also put in place measures to punish erring citizens.

With the new law, smoking is now prohibited in restaurants, hospitals, schools, offices and in public transport sector.

Defaulters will now have to pay $32.25 if caught violating the law instead of the current fine of $1.60 which is randomly enforced.

The authorities also announced that they will no longer tolerate sale of cigarettes within 100 meters of primary schools and kindergartens, according to state media.

Also any defaulter who breaks the law three times will be named and shamed on a government website.
Businesses could also be fined up to $1,600 for failing to put measures in place to prohibit smoking on their premises.

Anti-smoking activists however observed that enforcement would be a major challenge but are also quick to agree that the current campaign on the newly strengthened law has more bite than the previous anti-smoking
measures.

Past attempts to prohibit smoking in Beijing always ended in failure as regulations were largely ignored.

According to records, Beijing has approximately two million smokers, which is 23.4 percent of people aged 15 and above.

According to a survey conducted by the Beijing Center for Disease Control last year, these smokers consume an average of 14.6 cigarettes per day.

China has more than 300 million smokers, and more than 1 million people die each year due to smoking-related diseases, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Many other Chinese cities have banned smoking in outdoor public places, but enforcement has been lax.

At least 1,300 inspectors supported by volunteers will be dispatched to enforce the new ban.

It would be recalled that the Chinese Parliament passed legislation last month banning tobacco adverts in mass media, public places on public transport and outdoors.