State Tobacco Control, CELL organized Workshop on Tobacco Control

At 48.2 percent, Assam records the highest use of this substance

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Tobacco Control, CELL of the Directorate of Health Services, Assam organized a state-level workshop on Tobacco Control Initiatives by Media Personnel on Friday at the State NHM office.

State Nodal officer of NTCP (National Tobacco Control Program) Dr. Arundhati Deka while giving an overview of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 stated that since they have started collecting fine for violating the COTPA, they have collected a total of Rs 12 lakh till 2019. The fine starts with minimum Rs 5 to Rs 200. She said, “We’re thinking about to file case against those selling tobacco products. We will do so by following the norms of the Act. We hope to receive a satisfactory result in decreasing problem.”

Deka mentioned, “The motive for collecting fine is not just to collect fine because of violation of this Act but to make people aware of the fact that such an Act exists. It is tragic that tobacco kills over 13 lakh Indians annually and Assam records the highest in prevalence of tobacco use at 48.2% as per global Adult Tobacco Survey 2016.”

Putting pressure on the fact that individual initiative by people themselves and mostly by the officials is needed. By saying so she mentioned about the projects taken by NTCP and said that now it is the time to be vocal to prevent tobacco usage.

The State Nodal Officer claimed, “In order to tackle with this issue, we’re targeting the budding generation. We have taken awareness programme in schools, colleges and universities as well. We’ve covered around 5000 schools and thus we could make 200-400 tobacco free. As a result of the pilot project implemented in Kamrup (M) and Jorhat district, we could declare 16 villages of Jorhat as tobacco free.”

Also participating in the workshop and delivering his lecture on Health hazards and dangerous consequences of Tobacco use, associate professor of B. Borooah cancer Institute Dr. Ashok Das stated that Assam is in top 5 position in case of drug abuse. Das claimed, “Drugs is way more destructive than cancer. As cancer takes some time to kill a person. The way to drugs starts with a small pouch of tobacco leading to all the possible destruction. It is not that only those using tobacco products are the victim of deadly disease. The tragedy lies in the fact that even passive smoking can cause more harm to a man. Nicotine causes depression in our central nervous system. It’s addictive to a level that the quit rate is only 3-5%. So it’s necessary for some urgent intervention in this regard and media have the ability to play a pivotal role in this regard.” Besides the media personnel from electronic and print media, many other from NGO and AM and FM broadcasting also participated in the workshop.

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