CM, Walia launch project, website to make Delhi smoke-free

In a bid to make the national capital smoke-free before the Commonwealth Games, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Diksht and Health Minister Kiran Walia today launched a community project on tobacco control.

Observing World No Tobacco Day, Ms Dikshit launched the integrated community-based pilot project on tobacco control to spread awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco consumption and make de-addiction and cancer treatment
accessible to people through participation of NGOs. In the first phase, the project will become operational in five areas of east and south district namely, Sunder Nagri, Nand Nagri, Gandhi Nagar, Shastri Park and Hauz Khas. Voluntary organisations namely Public Health Foundation of India, Voluntary Health Association of India, Chronic Care Foundation, St Stephens's Community Health Centre, pharma giant Pfizer Limited and Delhi Medical Association will participate in the initiative.

Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences will be the coordinating agency. These organisations will work for capacity building of health workers and providers by imparting training to community workers and ASHA workers and train doctors
working in the field, the Chief Minister added.

In collaboration with these NGOs, the Delhi government will arrange for counseling of tobacco users through grass-root level community workers and give them pharmocological support.

Besides, Ms Walia said the government had identified designated officers from Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Delhi Transport Corporation, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council, Army College of Medical Science, Public Health Foundation of India, National Restaurant Association of India, Delhi Legal Services Authority and Delhi Medical Association for implementation and compliance of smoke-free rules within their respective jurisdictions. Ms Walia said 97,153 public places were raided, 18,957 persons were fined for smoking in public and 1,495 tobacco vendors were fined and a sum of Rs 16,75,240 was realized from the violators by the government so far.

Ms Dikshit also launched a website www.smokefreedelhi.org to help people kick the addiction. ''With an estimated 120 million smokers in India, the annual deaths from smoking are expected to rise to a million during 2010 and women comprise about 20 per cent of the world's smokers. It is alarming and has become point of concern for all of us,'' the Chief Minister stated. Currently, 1.5 million people die every year globally from tobacco use, out of which 1.2 million deaths are reported from south-east Asia.