EVERY day, more than 100 students from Republic Polytechnic (RP) blatantly flout smoking rules by lighting up at the void deck of a Woodlands block.
Students are not allowed to light up on campus and the school has also established a "no smoking" zone around its premises.
Block 806, Woodlands Street 81, a seven-minute walk from RP, lies within the smoke-free zone.
The students appear there during their lunch break, which is from 11.30am to 2pm.
After The New Paper reported last week that some Choa Chu Kang residents were unhappy that students from ITE College West caused a nuisance in their neighbourhood, we received complaints about students from RP and the Lasalle College of the Arts smoking and littering.
Housewife Jane Koh, 51, who lives in the opposite block, said that from her second-storey flat, she usually sees "40 to 50" students gathering at the void deck of Block 806 every day.
"They smoke, make noise and throw their cigarette butts all over the place," the resident of three years added.
Two other residents who have lived there for more than 20 years said the problem started in 2006 when RP moved to its permanent location in Woodlands.
Construction supervisor Simon Lim is upset that the students pollute the air in the coffee shop at the block.
The coffee shop places six or so additional tables and chairs outside.
Mr Lim, 50,and his friends have lunch there sometimes.
"We are non-smokers.When the wind blows, the smoke gets in our face," he said.
When the TNP team was at Block 806 on Tuesday, we saw about 100 students arrive around 11.30am. An hour later many of them had left, but another 150 or so students streamed in.
They spread themselves across the void deck in groups of three to four. Most stood as they puffed away, while others sat on the stone benches or on the ground.
Two students sat on chairs that belonged to the coffee shop.
When we approached a group of four students and asked why they were smoking there, a 19-year-old first-year student, who gave his name only as Rus, said: "This is the only place that is not directly opposite the school."
Some students said they choose to smoke at Block 806 as they can buy cigarettes at the minimart there and the coffee shop.
The minimart owner, Madam Jennifer Loh, who is in her 40s, said she gets brisk business from students buying drinks and cigarettes. Every day, she sells 20 to 30 packs of cigarettes to RPstudents.
She said she checks the students' identity cards to make sure that they are not underage.
It's against the law to sell tobacco products to those below 18. The New Paper understands that first-year polytechnic students are aged 17 to 20.
By 2pm, the students had dispersed and headed back to school.
But they left behind a mess - more than 200 cigarette butts and at least 10 empty drink cans and plastic cups littered the ground. The ashtray on top of the dustbin at the void deck was filled to the brim with cigarette butts.
There were two other bins outside the void deck but only a handful of students used them.
A town council cleaner, who declined to be named, said he spends about an hour every day cleaning up after the students.
An RP spokesman said the school had indicated the "no smoking" boundary on a map and e-mailed it to all its students.
According to a copy of the e-mail obtained by TNP, smoking is banned in "the polytechnic, in Admiralty Park, on all roads, sidewalks, bus stops and the overhead bridges around the polytechnic, and in the area bounded by Woodlands Avenue 2, Woodlands Avenue 9 and Woodlands Street 81".
The RPspokesman said: "Our roving discipline officers conduct spot checks from time to time."
He added that the school had written to the National Environment Agency (NEA) on several occasions last year, requesting them to send in enforcement officers.
"They have acknowledged our concerns and have worked closely with RP to conduct regular enforcement in the estate," he said.
Checks with the NEA showed that 51 tickets were issued for littering offenders at Woodlands Street 81 between January and Oct 26 this year. The latest patrol conducted at Blocks 801 to 808 was on Sept 25.
When the TNP team was at Block 806 yesterday, three male discipline officers from RP were seen approaching the students.
The students quickly walked away. After approaching four students sitting on the grass verge and speaking to them for a while, the officers left.
