New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) The Delhi government has fined over 11 lakh people for smoking in public places and earned over Rs.15 million since 1997.

'The effort to make Delhi smoke free started in 1997 and since then we have 'challaned' over 11 lakh people for violating the smoking law,' R.P. Vashishta, head of the anti-smoking wing of the Delhi government, told IANS.

'We are earning nearly Rs.12 lakh annually through fines. I believe that fines are the way to control tobacco consumption,' he said.

In Delhi, smoking in public places attracts a fine up to Rs.200.

Vashishta said that in Delhi, over 80 percent people know that smoking in public place is a punishable offence but a sizable number of them are not very sure about the definition of public place.

'I can say with certain degree of confidence that people are more aware now and this has led to success at some point,' he said.

He said smoking is considered by the youngsters as fashionable and this notion should change. 'Smoking should not be fashionable,' he said.

There are around 30 million tobacco users in India.