“The aim of freeing the State Capital from the menace of tobacco should start from Mussoorie and the upcoming winter line carnival is the best opportunity to kick start the campaign”, Chief Development Officer (CDO) Alok Kumar Pandey made this observation while convening a meeting of district level steering committee for effective implementation and monitoring of ‘Cigarette and tobacco product Act’ at Vikas Bhawan on Wednesday.
Pandey said that the State has taken a pledge to free the district from Tobacco and cigarettes by May 31 2015 and directed the officials to impose a penalty of Rs200 on anyone found smoking in Mussoorie. He said that all the government officers should keep Challan book and ensure implementation of the act.The CDO asked District Education Officer (DEO) to ensure that the proper warning is pasted in the premises of all PG colleges, Medical college, engineering colleges and all government and private schools of the district. He asked the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to prepare the stickers for the campaign and hand them over to the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) for pasting them on the city buses and other transport vehicles.
Pandey said that an extensive awareness campaign should be launched for making the people aware about the ill effects of the tobacco consumption and smoking. He asked the Circle Officer (CO) City to start a Tobacco Free week on the lines of Road safety week in which on the spot penalties are imposed on the offenders. The CDO added that if it is found that the provisions are being flayed then the concerned office head would be held accountable. He asked the district Panchayat officer to start a massive awareness campaign in the rural areas with the help of village development officers and village Pradhans.
The meeting was attended by the CMO Dr S P Agarwal, Deputy CMO Dr P S Jangpangi, Chief health Officer of Municipal Corporation R K Singh, District Panchayati Raj officer M M Khan; district Social Welfare Officer Ram Avtar Singh, District Education Officer (Secondary) R P Kala, Assistant Regional Transport Officer Sandeep Saini, CO City A K Pandey and other officers.