After direction from the Gujarat high court to not display any advertisement of tobacco products on the public transport service in state, the city medical fraternity also wants the BEST and state transport to ban advertisements of tobacco-related products.
After direction from the Gujarat high court to not display any advertisement of tobacco products on the public transport service in state, the city medical fraternity also wants the BEST and state transport to ban advertisements of tobacco-related products.
A group of doctors, including those from Tata Memorial Hospital working for ‘Doctors For You’, an NGO, and Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, is considering to send a legal notice to BEST and state transport departments to ban such ads.
“Since last few months, we are asking the BEST to remove tobacco-related ads from their buses. Now, we are considering sending them a legal notice,” said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor of head and neck cancer department, Tata Hospital, and joint secretary, Action Council Against Tobacco.
According to Sanjay Potnis, chairman, BEST, they have not given permission to display such advertisements on buses. “If we find these advertisements, we will definitely ban it. However, I think the paan masala and gutkha available in the city do not have tobacco,” he said.
Dr Ravikant Singh, president, Doctors For You, said, “I filed an RTI application to BEST to know how many buses carried tobacco advertisements in the city. The information I got was shocking. Around 700 BEST buses — about a fourth of the fleet — carry such advertisements.”
It is dangerous to put such ads on buses, as many school children travel in buses. If 700 buses carry these advertisements, imagine how many people see them every day and get influenced, he added.
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