August 14, 2012 admin

AMRITSAR & RUPNAGAR DISTRICTS DECLARED AS ‘SMOKE FREE’ DISTRICTS OF PUNJAB

Chandigarh August 14 :Mr..Madan Mohan Mittal , Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab today formally declared AMRITSAR & RUPNAGAR DISTRICTS AS SMOKE FREE’. A decision to this effect was taken on the eve of Independence Day. He also congratulated District Administration of Amritsar and Rupnagar who made consistent efforts in this regard. School of Public Health PGIMER, Chandigarh was entrusted the task of conducting a Compliance survey and Opinion poll to verify the compliance of COTPA Act, 2003 (Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act) in Amritsar and Rupnagar. Dr Sonu Goel, Assistant Professor,School of Public Health , PGIMER,Chandigarh, has in his report concluded that, absence of active smoking was noticed in 95%and 92% of Public Places respectively in AMRITSAR & RUPNAGAR DISTRICTS. Presence of signages was observed in more than 80% and 76.5% public places respectively in AMRITSAR & RUPNAGAR DISTRICTS. Dr. J P Singh, Director Health Services, Punjab added that this study paved the way for officially declaring AMRITSAR & RUPNAGAR DISTRICTS ‘Smoke Free’ districts of Punjab,in line with Districts Ajitgarh and Mansa which was declared as’ Smoke Free’,earlier. He revealed that the contents of the study were shared by PGI with the media and other departments & stakeholders.
According to Dr. Rakesh Kumar Gupta, State Program Officer, Tobacco Control Cell, Punjab, consistent efforts are being made to make entire Punjab ‘Smoke Free’ in a phased manner. It is very important to protect people from ill effects of Second hand Tobacco Smoke.
 

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