Good move for all
It is, indeed, a nice move by the UAE to enforce a ban on smoking in malls ("Dh1,000 fine for smoking in malls", Gulf News, July 7). For it to be effective, the authorities should also restrict the sale of tobacco and other related products to a few shops. Additionally, advertisements that display or sell cigarettes should be stopped at all supermarkets, malls and petrol stations. This would force smokers to make an extra effort to shop for cigarettes. The smoking ban is probably the best ways to deter youngsters from gaining access to such products.
From Mr Aurobind Padiyath
Sharjah
Enough security?
Well done, Dubai! Smoking in malls should be totally banned and the people who insist on breaking the law should be dealt with in a serious manner. I wonder if the malls will have enough security guards to enforce this ban?
From Mr Fred Chambers
Ontario, Canada
Smokers at work
What about people who smoke at work? There are a lot of people who don't smoke and are still affected. My pregnant wife is one of them. She has a few colleagues at work who smoke. The boss doesn't want to take any action against such people, so there really is no one to complain to. There should be a law that bans smoking at offices, too.
From Mr Mohammad Abdul M.
Dubai
Group hazard
It's good to know that smoking has been banned in malls. However, it would help to ensure that people don't start smoking outside the malls or on roads while walking. On many occasion, I've seen various people walking and smoking together as a group.
From Mr Yousuf
Dubai
Full name withheld by request
Editor's note: What do you think of the issue? Send in your views to readers@gulfnews.com
Heftier fines
The present penalties and punishments are not enough to discourage counterfeiters ("UAE takes measures against counterfeits", Gulf News, July 8). To minimise the number of counterfeits, penalties should be raised and the outlets selling fake products closed down. I have personally seen trading shops that continue to sell fake electronic items despite being raided by the authorities previously. The penalties are almost negligible compared to the huge profits earned. Electronic counterfeits can be life threatening. The authorities should categorise such products as dangerous and potentially hazardous.
From Mr Talal Al Deen
Dubai
Website comment
Deprived service
A couple of weeks ago, I waited three hours for a taxi but there was no taxi or bus to be found. I wasted at least Dh25 in trying to call the customer care centre to book a taxi and finally gave up, as I could not listen to the pre-recorded tape any longer. I think it is highly unfair to have waited three hours, lose money and yet be deprived of a service!
From Ms Nusrat Ali
Dubai
Well deserved
The Wimbledon men's singles final was one of the most memorable matches I've ever seen ("Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer at Wimbledon final," Gulf News, July 7). The passion with which both the players played their game was simply excellent. The best part of the game was the tiebreaker in the fourth set. In the end Rafael got a well-deserved victory.
From Mr Mohammad Nijas
Dubai
Lost in thought
This is in reference to Ms Wilma Chopra's letter ("Not worth your life", Gulf News, July 6). She has rightly expressed the state of mind of most people who are burdened by traffic issues. However, its not only while driving that these worries bother me, even in prayers I keep thinking about that one email which I could not send, or the quarterly rent which is fast approaching and other such stuff. Have we become materialistic or is it inflation that has turned our otherwise happy lives upside down?
From Mr Amjad Ali Awan
Dubai
Unfair
The tickets for my family of four were confirmed for departure on July 9 and August 9 respectively, with return on August 29 by an Air India Express flight to Goa from Dubai and back. Due to unexplained reasons, we were informed that the flights were cancelled. The airline said that only the tickets for my two children could be confirmed to fly with Indian Airlines. But the return tickets were not confirmed. The two adult tickets were not confirmed for either way but we were promised that we would get an answer later. We weren't sure whether we would be able to get tickets on any other flight at the last minute. It was unfair, as we had already paid for the tickets online.
From Mr Rony Fernandes
Dubai
The management at Air India Express replies:
Due to operational reasons, our proposed introduction of the Goa-Dubai-Goa flights had to be deferred indefinitely. However, we are making efforts to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers by liaising with Indian Airlines. In the case of Dubai-Goa passengers, we have rerouted two of our scheduled services to Nagpur or Mumbai via Goa to accommodate the Goa-bound passengers with other passengers being accommodated on Indian Airlines. A few passengers have preferred to take the full refund offered by us. Likewise, Air India's manager in Goa is liaising with Indian Airlines for the return travel of Dubai-bound Air India Express passengers from Goa. But, we hope our esteemed passengers will appreciate, that end of August being peak period for travel from India to Dubai and since only Indian Airlines operates from Goa to Dubai, all their flights are already full - much before the introduction of Air India Express. This notwithstanding, we assure that maximum possible assistance will be given by our manager in Goa.
Hence, we request all passengers holding return bookings on cancelled Air India Express Goa-Dubai flights, to please get in touch with the manager immediately on arrival in Goa.
Matter of fact
Gulf News wrongly reported/published the following:
The capital of Gujarat as Ahmedabad instead of Gandhinagar. It was part of the page 45 report, "Facelift for India's infrastructure", Business Section, July 4.
We apologise for the error and any inconvenience it might have caused.
Gulf News is committed to being fair.
If there is an error in the newspaper, we will correct it promptly and fully.
If you come across any factual errors, mistakes or inaccuracies, please let us know at readers@gulfnews.com
