Gujarat government has set aside a sum of Rs3 crore in order to generate public awareness about the dangers of tobacco use and for stricter implementation of laws under the 'Tobacco Control Program'.
As part of this campaign, a website has been launched on Sunday to spread information about the deadly products and its effects. Five vans with flying squads facilitating the awareness campaigns as well as for implementation of laws against tobacco consumption in public places will also be deployed.
The flying squads will include a police sub-inspector along with health officials and the vans will start functioning in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar from May 31, which marks the 'World No-Tobacco Day'.
At the launch of the website for tobacco control, minister of health and family welfare, Jaynarayan Vyas, said the fight against tobacco is more critical than even the war against terrorism.
Vyas said that as per the national family health survey-3 in 2005-06, 57% males and 8.4% females consumed tobacco in Gujarat. However, as per the global adult tobacco survey in 2009-10, 46.2% males and 11.3% females used tobacco in the state. Thereby, revealing that the fatal addiction is gaining ground among Gujarat's women. "Females in the labour category are the ones who are mainly getting addicted to tobacco," said Vyas.
He also said that people start consuming tobacco
before the age of 15, so the state wants to focus on schools to create awareness about its dangers.
Vyas also said that the health department is carrying out a research in consultation with the agriculture department to provide alternative cash crops to farmers growing tobacco.
Comments