Ferozepur, August 23, 2016: To enforce Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (COPTA) Act in the city to nab the offenders red handed, the Punjab Health Department organized one day’s workshop in association with the Generation Savior Association.
Addressing the seminar, Vineet Kumar, ADC asked the officials to strictly enforce the COPTA Act and its implementation in letter and spirit and take action against the violators as per the law.
He said, at the end of the year, a study is will be conducted by PGI team and the district doing excel in implementation of COPTA will be declared as “High COPTA Compliant”.
He directed the educational institutions to ensure that there is no tobacco shop within the radius of 100 yards of the school as per provisions under Section 6-A of the Act and under Section 6-B no child of the age less than 18 years should buy such product.
COPTA is an Act of Parliament of India enacted in 2003 to prohibit advertisement and regulation of tobacco business in India.
Dr.Jai Singh said, the smoke from smoking is not only injurious to health of the smoker but also affect on the people around.
Upinderjit Kaur, President, Generation Savior Association informed that according to Global Adult Tobacco Survey report for 2009-10, around 2200 people are dying due for consuming tobacco which includes 48 in Punjab whereas the global figures is 58 lac.
Highlighting the provisions of Sections 4,5,6 and 7 of COPTA Act 2003, the Project Manager, GSA Viney Gandhi said, there is complete ban on the sale of lose products and violators can be booked with a fine also.
Present in the Seminar were Sukjmandar Singh District Revenue Officer, Dr.Pardeep Aggarwal, SMO and heads of various departments.