JORHAT, Aug 2 - The Jorhat district administration has decided to paint a yellow line on the streets to demarcate the 100-metre radius from the boundary of an educational institution in order to make it easy for the District Tobacco Control Cell (DTCC) to prevent shops/kiosks from selling tobacco and tobacco-related products within 100 metre radius of educational institutions.
It may be mentioned here that under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (COTPA) Act, 2003, tobbaco and tobacco-related items cannot be sold within a radius of 100 metres of an educational institution and there is provision of penalty if the said provision of the law is found to be violated.
A district administration official told this newspaper on Thursday that a meeting of the DTCC chaired by the Jorhat Development Commissioner Gitanjali Dutta, which was attended by senior district administration, Police, Health, Transport department officials along with representatives of NGOs and educational institutions decided to demarcate the 100-metre radius from an educational institution by painting a yellow-coloured line.
The official said that it was pointed out in the meeting by DTCC officials that having a clear and visible demarcation will make it easy for DTCC teams, which are accompanied by policemen on drives to enforce different provisions of COTPA, which also prevents smoking in public places.
The official stated that in the last month (July), the DTCC collected Rs 7,080 as fine from people who violated the national anti-tobacco law.
The official further informed that the meeting decided of making short-duration awareness films on the ill effects of tobacco consumption on health in order to encourage people, especially the youths, to abstain from tobacco and tobacco-related products.
The meeting further decided to intensify awareness measures against consumption of tobacco and tobacco-related products by holding meetings at street corners, village markets and at school and college campuses.
The meeting also discussed about possible steps that could be taken to discourage people from visiting hookah bars.
