Daily Times

Additional Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG) Dr Shahab Aslam said that an anti-smoking program would be launched strictly in educational institutions of the district to make them smoking free.

Chairing a meeting of District Anti-Smoking Implementation Committee here on Sunday, he said that more than 160,000 people died due to smoking per annum in Pakistan including 1200 children of the age of 5 to 15 years. He said that a comprehensive mechanism would be adopted to stop the availability of cigarettes and tobacco products to children whereas all hotels and restaurants would be made smoking-free across the district. He said that initially 30 educational institutions would be selected to start the anti-smoking program as a pilot project for achieving 100 percent results of this drive. In this connection, the CEO Education and Director Colleges were asked to designate 30 educational institutions so that the project could be initiated as early as possible, he added.

He said that although anti-smoking law existed, yet it was not being implemented in toto. Therefore, a meeting of the anti-smoking task force would be convened very soon for strict implementation on the law. He said that district regional transport authority, city traffic police and Pakistan Railways officers would also be taken on board to make public transport free of smoking. In this connection, stickers and boards inscribed with “No-Smoking” would be displayed in addition to arranging training sessions for drivers and other crew of public transport.

He also directed Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) officers to take appropriate measures for sensitizing public parks visitors about harmful effects of smoking.

He said that a conference of Ulema-o-Mashaikh would be arranged during the first week of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak so that they could play their dynamic role in making the new generation smoking-free.

He said that Social Welfare & Bait-ul-Maal Faisalabad, Civil Society Organization and District Health Authority would also be mobilized to launch an awareness campaign against smoking whereas a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) would also be signed with the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) for their contribution to the anti-smoking drive. Muhammad Aftab, an officer from National Health Ministry, Sadiq-ul-Hasan, Divisional Coordinator for Anti-Smoking, and representatives of various departments were also present in the meeting.