Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 17: Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) today pitched for a blanket ban on tobacco products in Jammu and Kashmir and sought cooperation from the society and the Government to make the State tobacco-free.
“We want that there should be a total ban on various tobacco products in the State. No tobacco product should enter the state at Lakhanpur entry-point. We want to rid the State of this menace,” president, Ali Mohammad Mir, of VHAI said here at a Media Sensitization Workshop conducted by the VHAI.
Mir said the aim of the VHAI was to make people understand what smoking can do to them and impress upon the government for better implementation of the laws. “We do not want our future generation to get involved in drugs. Smoking is the gateway to drugs and we want our youth to stay away from it,” he said.
He lamented that cigarette companies were still using advertisements to lure youth into smoking and demanded complete ban on that.
He said due to the efforts of VHAI, the police have realized a fine of Rs 52,55,572 from people smoking at public places in the State in the last three years.
During the workshop, it was given out that 23 lakh people in the State were active smokers, which is equal to the population of Namibia or Qatar. However, it was said, that 30 per cent of smokers in the state have attempted to quit in the last year due to a sustained campaign by the VHAI.
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