SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 7: Babadham (Deoghar), the abode of 12th Jyotirlinga, is on its way to be the first district in Jharkhand to be completely tobacco-free. In order to achieve this milestone, the district administration on Thursday launched a campaign for implementing Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 strictly in Babadham and taking action against the violators.
Till date, only five districts; Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Khunti, Saraikela-Kharsawan and two cities Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh have been declared as ‘smoke-free’ in Jharkhand.
“We have to make Babadham (Deoghar) tobacco-free district so that the coming generations could be saved from the harmful impact of tobacco-related diseases,” said Deputy Commissioner (DC) Manjunath Bhajantri.
The DC expressed his concern that despite all government offices, hospitals, health centers and educational institutions having been declared as tobacco-free zones, the ban is not followed strictly. He ordered the officials to ensure strict implementation of the ban and collect fines from the defaulters under COTPA.
He has also set up a special task force of police and Devdoot ( angel) of Bholenath under a magistrate to spread awareness among people about COTPA and collecting fines from the violators.
The DC while holding a workshop on tobacco control, jointly organized by the district administration and Jharkhand government’s technical support partner Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS), directed all the Block Development Officers (BDOs) and officer-in-charge of police stations to conduct raids for implementation of COTPA and informed the collectorate about action taken reports.
“In case of violation of this order, officials are supposed to take action against the violators of Act under IPC Sections 188,288,269, 270 and others,” said the DC.
While briefing the officers about different sections of COTPA, he said that there is a provision of Rs. 200 fine under Section 4 for smoking in public places. Under Section 5, there is a complete ban on the advertisement of tobacco products and Section 6 says that no tobacco products would be sold within 100 meters radius of educational institutions.
SEEDS Ranchi programme coordinator Rimple Jha, SDM Dinesh Kumar Yadav, civil surgeon CK Sahi, PRO Ravi Kumar, Rohit Kumar Vidyarthi also attended the workshop.
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