Bihar Govt.made Rapid Sride to prevent Tobacco Use

 

                 



PATNA: In a significant move, the state government has constituted a State Tobacco Control Co-ordination Committee (STCCC) to ensure strict compliance of the Indian Tobacco Control Law in the state as per the mandate of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP). This follows a directive from the governor who had ordered the formation of a 16-member committee.
The committee is headed by principal secretary, health, Amarjeet Sinha and comprises the secretary, health, the director general, health services and nodal officers of tobacco control programme along with the principal secretaries of four departments: social welfare, Panchayati Raj, education and information and public relations department (IPRD) and also the DGP or an ADG rank official from the state police headquarters.
The NTCP has been implemented in 42 districts of 21 states across the country. Two districts of Bihar, Patna and Munger, are also covered under the NTCP.
Health secretary Sanjay Kumar said, "The committee has been constituted with the State Health Society (SHS) issuing a notification to this effect." He said that the committee has been assigned the task to ensure effective compliance of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2009, in the state.

                                       

The move to form the STCCC is the fallout of a meeting held here last year chaired by the principal secretary, health, and attended by senior officials of different government departments and members of various tobacco control organizations such as the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (Hriday) and Socio Economic and Educational Development Society (Seeds), partners in tobacco elimination programme in the state. The objective of the meeting was to discuss tobacco control issues and build a road map for effective implementation of tobacco control programme. The meeting decided to include representatives of other departments like police, education, food and consumer protection, transport, tourism, social welfare and Panchayati Raj in the committee.
Seeds executive director and STCCC member Deepak Mishra said, "The Bihar government has made rapid strides in the field of tobacco control programme." Amit Yadav of Hriday said that every second person in Bihar consumes tobacco in one form or the other and the formation of such a committee would not only make people aware of the hazards of tobacco use, but would also discourage non-users from consuming it.