State health minister Jaynarayan Vyas also launched a website under the state government's tobacco control programme (ctcph.com), as a part of the anti-tobacco campaign.
Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas today announced that 'Tobacco Free Gujarat' campaign would now cover all the 26 districts and seven municipal corporations of the state, for which Rs3 crore had been alloted for the year 2011-12.
The campaign aims to create awareness against the use of tobacco.
The announcement comes ahead of the World No-Tobacco Day on May 31.
Vyas also launched a website under the state government's tobacco control programme (ctcph.com), as a part of the anti-tobacco campaign.
The minister further announced that on May 31, the government would also launch five mobile flying squads with mobile vans, consisting of a police inspector and a health functionary.
The van would move in places where consumption of tobacco is prohibited, such as schools, educational institutions, public places, etc, to ensure implementation of anti-tobacco provisions.
"This year we have alloted Rs3 crore under tobacco control programme to cover all the 26 districts and seven municipal corporations under the 'Tobacco Free Gujarat' campaign," Vyas told reporters here.
"The problem of tobacco concerns all of us. This is an evil that cannot be brought down through law. It requires mass awareness across the state," Vyas said. "Owing to the success of the anti-tobacco campaign initiated as a part of the state's golden jubilee celebrations last year, we have decided to take it across Gujarat," he said.
"Though consumption of tobacco in Gujarat is less than the national average, it is alarming that over 29% of boys and over 4% of girls attending schools consume tobacco in one form or the other," Vyas said.
Giving an overview of the activities carried out under the tobacco control programme of the government, Vyas said that a pilot project was on in Sabarkantha and Vadodara districts since 2008, while another project, 'smoke-free Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar', was initiated in 2009.
A project called Strengthening of Tobacco Control Efforts through Innovative Partnership and Stratergies (STEPS) was under implementation in Kheda, Anand, Surat, Banaskantha and Rajkot districts of the state, he said. The project is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, he added.
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