Chandigarh, June 25, 2013: To declare entire state of Punjab as 'Tobacco Smoke Free' in a phased manner 50% of the total population in the state would be "Tobacco smoke free" by August 15 this year. In the state 11 districts would be declared as "Tobacco Smoke Free" by 15th August out of which 7 districts Ajitgarh (SAS Nagar), Mansa, Amritsar, Rupnagar, Gurdaspur, Fatehgarh Sahib and SBS Nagar have already been declared as "tobacco smoke free" on the basis of compliance study reports by PGIMER Chandigarh.
Disclosing this here today, Madan Mohan Mittal Minister for Health and Family Welfare said that more than 30% of total population of Punjab has been declared as 'Tobacco Smoke Free' as per study by PGIMER and this would go to 50 % in the coming two months.
The minister said that by mid August four more districts Muktsar, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala would be declared as "tobacco smoke free".
Mittal while reviewing progress of recently held meeting of the State level Tobacco Control Committee, Punjab said that departments of Health and Family Welfare, Home, Education, Finance, Labour, Transport, Railways, Panchayati Raj and Civil Society organisations should strictly follow the guidelines to implement COTPA to make Punjab as "tobacco smoke free". Minister said that concerned departments should also send progress reports and hold review meetings on monthly basis.
Minister said that though Punjab is presently not under National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) of Government of India and no funds have been made available till date by GoI for this purpose, still implementation of COTPA is much better in Punjab than the States receiving funds under NTCP.
Dr. Rakesh Gupta State Programme Officer State Tobacco Control Cell briefed that from Jan 2013 to May 2013 about 10361 violators have been challaned under COTPA 2003 & a total fine/compounding fee of Rs 5, 93,795/- has been realized. He said that book regarding guidelines for implementation of "Smoke Free Rules" and Health Workers Guide was also released recently.