Salman, Ajay Devgan fined five times for smoking in public

Chandigarh, Jan 10 (IANS) 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 the first smoke-free city of the country.

Both actors have been served five penalty notices for smoking at public places in the last three days in Chandigarh and in neighbouring Punjab.

The first one to hit the list was Devgan who immediately lit a cigarette at the airport on reaching Chandigarh Monday, and was immediately caught on camera by a photo journalist.

The police issued a notice to him Wednesday after receiving a complaint from a non-government organisation Tuesday.

After keeping the Chandigarh police officials waiting for hours Wednesday and Thursday, Devgan went to the house of a sub-divisional magistrate here late Friday evening to pay the fine of Rs.200.

Besides, both the stars were also slapped with two fines each Wednesday and Thursday at Kurali in Mohali, around 35 km from here, for allegedly smoking at a railway station there.

'Both the actors have violated the provisions of section 4 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003. We have also 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,' Hemant Goswami, chairperson, Burning Brain Society, told IANS Saturday.

Salman and Devgan came to Chandigarh Monday for the shooting of a Bollywood film.

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