Sallu, Ajay defy smoking ban, fined

CHANDIGARH: Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan have been figuring in the news for all the wrong reasons by consistently breaking the no-smoking law in India’s first smoke-free city.

Both actors have been served five penalty notices for smoking at public places in the last three days in Chandigarh and in Punjab. The first one to hit the list was Devgan who immediately lit a cigarette at the airport on reaching Chandigarh on January 5, and was caught on camera.

The police issued a notice to him on January 7after receiving a complaint from an NGO on January 6. After keeping the police officials waiting for hours on Wednesday and Thursday, Devgan went to the house of a sub-divisional magistrate late on January 9 evening to pay the fine of INRs 200.

Besides, both the stars were also slapped with two fines each on January 7 and 8 at Kurali in Mohali for allegedly smoking at a railway station there.

“We have written to the Indian railways to cancel the permission to shoot on the railway premises as the crew members have violated the section 167 of the Railways Act 1989,” said chairperson of Burning Brain Society.

Chandigarh became the first smoke-free city on July 15, 2007 while a ban on smoking in public places was imposed all across India on October 2, 2008.