Too much smoke, pub-lic nuisance

One man''s food is another man''s poison. In much the same way, one man''s stress buster is another man''s toxin. Pune''s night life is on a high, but the city''s clubs are small and often over-crowded. As a result, they are stuffed with smoke despite the air conditioners and pleasure puffs inhaled by smokers are proving quite hazardous to those who can''t bear it.
Those who visit these places often will speak of their experiences. Most will complain of a burning sensation in the eyes and breathing problems.
Many a time, headaches may also occur the following morning. Anisha Sahaney, student who says, "I go out very often, at least twice a week. No doubt, there is too much smoke in some of the clubs. So much that your eyes start watering as soon as you enter. If you are drinking, it can become so stuffy that you have to run out for air sometimes.
I wish the pub owners would do something about it."
While most of the clubs in the city do not have any smoke screens, there are others like Scream and Polaris which do have an effective system in place. In fact, it is mandatory for clubs in developed countries to have a proper smoke screen or any such technology installed. Nitin Ramtri, manager of Scream says, "We have a very strong exhaust system.
The amount of smoke that is generated in our club is battled with an equal amount of fresh air from the exhaust system."
Dr Pramod Jog seconds the fact that regular party-goers are at an increased risk from passive smoking. He explains, "Passive smoking has subtle but significant effects on the respiratory health of non-smoking adults, including increased coughing, bronchospasms, chest discomfort and reduced lung function. For people with asthma, passive smoking can cause serious problems as cigarette smoke is a common trigger for asthma attacks. In fact, all the problems associated with smoking are also linked to passive smoking."
Rishi Chopra, food and beverage manager of Le Meridian explains how they tackle the smoke in their restaurants.
"We use the smoke screen in our pub Casabella, but at Polaris we have found that the pumping in of fresh air works better. The capacity of AC is equal to the amount of fresh air pumped in at regular intervals. This is definitely more effective than the smoke screen."
Environmental tobacco smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution. Tobacco smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, some of which have marked irritant properties and some 60 are known or suspected carcinogens (cancer causing substances).