District Administration Ramban is going to launch a massive awareness drive about the health hazards of tobacco and enforcement of National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) and Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 in the district.In this regard, Deputy Commissioner, Mussarat Islam today chaired a meeting of the District Level Coordination Committee to discuss the modalities.Chief Planning Officer, Dr. Kasturi Lal; Dy EO MC, Vishwajeet, Chief Education Officer, Dev Anand; Dy. SP, Pardeep Kumar; Dy. CMO, Dr Iqbal Bhat, DHO Dr. Rajinder and other concerned attended the meeting.
The Deputy Commissioner gave directions and suggestions to build the capacity of the enforcement wings to have a better understanding of the provisions of The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 to implement National Tobacco Control Programme(NTCP).The Divisional Coordinator NTCP, Shiveta Raina presented a PowerPoint presentation and threw light on the prevailing tobacco usage scenario in the Jammu and Kashmir UT besides, giving details of the penal and enforcement provisions of COTPA-2003.
She also gave an overview of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Article 5.3, MPOWER and strategies on effective implementation of COTPA-2003. The Deputy Commissioner directed the concerned officer to intensify anti-tobacco drives, besides holding awareness camps in all sub divisions of the district. He directed the Education department, Municipal Council, and Police to disseminate the message of ill effects of tobacco consumption among school children during “World No Tobacco Day” events. He further asked to keep check on the sale of tobacco and related products within 100 yards of any educational and other identified institutions.