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Best
Indian city in tobacco control to tighten laws
Wednesday March 23, 2011 01:00:14 PM,
IANS
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Chandigarh: Chandigarh,
which has been declared the best Indian city in terms of tobacco
control by an international study, is preparing to further tighten
laws around tobacco usage.
At a meeting of the Chandigarh tobacco control cell, it was decided
that enforcement of tobacco control legislation would be made
stricter and the draft tobacco vendors licensing rules would be
notified soon despite opposition from tobacco companies.
The global adult tobacco report - prepared by the WHO and the Centre
for Disease Control (CDC) - says the figure of tobacco users in
Chandigarh has come down to 14 percent compared to the national
average of 35 percent.
"Tobacco kills nearly a million people in India every year and no
opposition from any lobby would be allowed to interfere in decisions
taken in the interest of the public, especially when it is going to
save the lives of thousands of people," Chandigarh's home-cum-health
secretary Ram Niwas said here.
The report, made in collaboration with the union health ministry,
pointed out that the number of females consuming tobacco is also one
of the lowest in India with less than 1.7 percent women consuming
any form of tobacco product compared to 20.3 percent across the
country.
"Chandigarh has also emerged as the best city in terms of exposure
to second hand smoke," the report stated.
"Less than 11 percent people have any kind of exposure to second
hand smoke anywhere in the city, compared to the national average of
29 percent," it added.
The highest incidence of second-hand smoke was found in the
northeastern state of Meghalaya, where over 54 percent are exposed
to it.
"No city in India can match up to the progress made by Chandigarh on
the tobacco control front in the last four to five years," social
activist Hemant Goswami, whose Burning Brain Society (BBS) has been
at the forefront of efforts to make Chandigarh 'smoke-free' and
control tobacco use, told IANS.
"Chandigarh has emerged the best even though we can do more on
this," he said.
Among the tobacco chewing population, Chandigarh had a low
percentage of only 3.3 percent compared to the national average of
20.6 percent. Nearly one-third (34 percent) of the city's population
is that of migrants from other states.
Niwas said BBS had helped the Chandigarh administration achieve the
high standards of excellence in tobacco control.
Chandigarh was officially declared a smoke-free city July 15, 2007,
adding to its earlier tag of being the country's 'greenest' and
'cleanest' city.
The 114 sq km city - the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana - has
been trying to curb smoking in public areas since then. The idea to
make the city a 'smoke-free' zone was mooted first by the BBS and
adopted by the administration.
(Jaideep Sarin
can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
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