SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, May 28: The World Health Organization (WHO) has selected Jharkhand for the global World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) award of 2022 for controlling tobacco consumption in the state.
The award will be given to the State Tobacco Control Cell (STCS) of the Jharkhand government’s health department on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31. This is the first time that Jharkhand has bagged this global award.
State nodal officer of the Jharkhand NTPC programme Dr Lalit Ranjan Pathak when asked about it on Saturday admitted the selection of Jharkhand for the Global WNTD award. He said that it is a great achievement for Jharkhand and it could be possible only due to all political and administrative support that State Tobacco Control Cell has in implementing the programme.
“My heartiest congratulation to the ministry of health and family welfare, The UNION, WHO, state as well as districts team for their all efforts they put in achieving this award. I also praise the technical support partner of government Socio-Economic and Education Development Society (SEEDS), especially it’s executive director Deepak Mishra,” he said.
WHO has selected Jharkhand for this prestigious international award for its outstanding implementation of the tobacco control programme in 2021-22.
Jharkhand is the first state in the country that has passed the COTPA amendment bill in assembly and has imposed a ban on Pan Masala brands for the last three years.
Moreover, the government has declared eight districts including Ranchi, Dhanbad, Khunti, Saraikela-Kharsawan, West Singhbum, Ramgarh and Godda as smoke-free regions. Besides it, two urban areas- Jamshedpur and Hazaribagh township are also smoke-free.
Moreover, Jharkhand is the first state that is strictly implementing a tobacco vendor license which has curtailed the mushrooming of tobacco shops.
“With this global award of WHO, Jharkhand has emerged as a leader as well as a flag bearer of tobacco control programme in the country as well as in the globe,” said Dipak Kumar Mishra, executive director of SEEDS which is the Technical Support Partner of Jharkhand government in policy development and implementation of the tobacco control programme.
