Bokaro : Bokaro district was declared a smoke-free district ranked second after the state capital Ranchi.
A smoke-free declaration was signed by all the senior functionaries of the district and the Deputy Commissioner Bokaro.
Executive Director of Socio Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS) Deepak Mishra informed that based on the norms of smoke-free in the compliance survey seven districts of the state including Ranchi is declared as a smoke-free district.
Bokaro ranked second in compliance of Section 4 of ‘Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act’ (COTPA) is found to be 93.5 per cent, which is better than most other districts, he informed.
Civil Surgeon Dr. Ashok Kumar Pathak said that the campaign to make Bokaro a smoke-free district has gone on since 2016-17. Today, after almost 4 years, the district has got the distinction of being a smoke-free district. “Our partner SEED’s have been a very important contributor to this entire campaign,” added Pathak.
Bokaro DC Rajesh Kumar Singh appealed mass to keep the entire district smoke-free, tobacco-free in a bid to create a healthy environment across the district.
“Now we have to start a campaign to make our district a tobacco-free district, so that our future generations can be protected from the ill-effects of tobacco,” added DC.
He directed all the members of the three-tier guerrilla squad formed in the district for tobacco control to carry out regular raids by removing shoppers selling all tobacco products located within 100 yards of educational institutions.
State Advisor of Tobacco Control, Rajiv Kumar said that there has been cooperation in making tobacco control program successful at every level. The central government, state government, all government offices, educational institutions, social institutions and the media world has got a lot of support in running this campaign.
Now smoking in public places like the cinema hall, bus stand, the railway station, public road, educational institutions, offices and other places is a punishable offense. He suggested that all educational institutions should be tobacco-free and issue licenses to shopkeepers selling tobacco products.