JORHAT, June 23 � Around 200 college students, teachers, local youths and elderly citizens of Dikhowmukh on Monday unanimously announced that they would convince thousands of their neighbouring villagers to eschew the consumption of tobacco as it caused several communicable and non-communicable diseases.
On Monday, the locals for the first time attended a workshop on the ill-effects of tobacco on human health at the Dikhowmukh College.
As Sivasagar district is yet to set up a district-level Tobacco Control Cell, the nodal officer of Jorhat�s District Tobacco Control Cell (DTCC), Dr Bhaktimoy Bhattacharya, social worker Dipak Hazarika and counsellor Dipti Saikia attended the workshop as resource persons and gave audio-visual presentation during the programme.
Expressing gratitude to the principal of the college, Dr Lutfun Nahar and the other teachers, students and the non-teaching staff of the college for initiating such a commendable action, Dr Bhattacharya said that Dikhowmukh College emerged as the first institution of higher education in Sivasagar district to launch an anti-tobacco campaign on the premises of the institution and its neighbouring areas.
�As we have learnt about fatal diseases caused by tobacco from the experts today, we all have taken oath to give up tobacco and its products inside the premises of our institutions. I hope all of our students will teach other people to eschew the consumption of tobacco as it is detected to be the principal cause of several fatal diseases,� said Dr Nahar.
Along with students and college staff, an environmental activist of the locality Hiren Dutta, retired teachers Sabharam Bharali, Jatin Khaund, Jugal Dutta and journalists Rajib Dutta and Nabajyoti Ojha also attended the workshop and vowed to launch anti-tobacco campaigns in their respective localities.
