Chandigarh, Sept. 17 -- A joint enforcement team of the health, police, excise and taxation, legal metrology, and food safety departments imposed Rs.6,500 in fines and seized imported cigarettes during a raid in the city to check violations of tobacco-control laws. Loose cigarettes worth around Rs.18,000 were destroyed, while imported cigarettepackets with an estimated wholesale value of Rs.5,200 were seized. The team found multiple violations at shops and kiosks in Sector 16 D, including the sale of loose and imported cigarettes within 100 metres of educational institutions and the absence of mandatory signage under Section 6(a) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003. At Sharma Confectionery and Juice Bar in Sector 16 D, officials found cigarettes being sold within the prohibited distance of an educational institution. A second confectionery in the same sector was similarly found selling cigarettes within the prohibited distance of an educational institution and without the required signage. A kiosk outside a liquor outlet was also found in possession of loose and imported cigarettes. The seized cigarette packets allegedly lacked mandatory pictorial health warnings covering 85% of the packaging. Police also issued challans to three people for smoking in public places. The team separately raided Marhaba Cafe at SCO 83-84, Sector 16 D, where officials found a hookah bar operating under the name 'Jumeirah' on the first floor. The premises were sealed after officials recovered 25 hookah chillums, eight pouches of flavoured tobacco molasses, four hookah mouthpieces and an open packet of hookah coal briquettes. The seized material was handed over to the police for further action under applicable tobacco-control laws. Director health and family welfare Suman Singh said the permanent task force would continue enforcement drives to ensure compliance withCOTPA, 2003, and other tobacco-control laws, while also creating awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption....