Tarn Taran district in Punjab would be declared as smoke-free on the eve of New Year on December 31, Director Health and Family Welfare Punjab, Dr Karanjit Singh said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a workshop to implement the Anti- Tobacco laws and to sensitise all stakeholders here after inaugurating a state level orientation workshop for key stakeholders on implementation of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products act, 2003 (COTPA, 2003). The workshop was organised by Tobacco Control Cell, Punjab in collaboration with International Union against Tuberculosis and lung Diseases (Union) and SNEHA (NGO).
Singh said that 18 districts of the state have already been declared as Tobacco Smoke Free (TSF) on the basis of compliance studies by PGI Chandigarh. Tarn Tarn would be declared as TSF on New Year eve. The prime objective of this workshop was to sensitise participants from all the stake holder departments regarding importance of implementation of COTPA. He also said that recently Chief Secretary Punjab had communicated all DCs regarding this.Dr Rakesh Gupta, SPO Tobacco Control Cell Punjab said that ludhiana, Moga and Pathankot would be declared tobacco smoke-free next. He said that on the directive of the Health and Family Welfare Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani, a departmental committee has been constituted to ensure the implementation COTPA across the State.
Gupta also sought the cooperation of each department in declaring Punjab a tobacco smoke free state by 2015. He said chewable tobacco and e-cigarettes have already been banned in the state under Drugs and Cosmetics act.Deliberating during the conference, Dr Rana J Singh, senior Consultant South East Asia Unit of International Union against Tuberculosis and lung Disease from 'The Union' said that Tobacco is gateway to all other addictions. “We should have multi sectoral approach & should scale up Public Private Partnerships to ensure COTPA,” he said. He added that a short term, mid-term and long term comprehensive plan should be made for the state and the implementation should be sustainable.