Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0: Shopian to declare hospitals, villages tobacco free 

Srinagar, Oct 09: To discourage tobacco use, the district administration in Shopian has issued directions to declare all health institutions tobacco free and schools TOFEI compliant.
The fresh directive has come in view of the launch of the Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0 in the country by the Union Health Ministry and many activities under the nationwide tobacco program would be held in the district.
As per the directions issued by Deputy Commissioner Shopian, Chief Medical Officer has directed to declare all health institutions tobacco free and hold regular enforcement drives in all health institutions.
Similarly, the Chief Education Officer has been asked to declare all educational institutions whether government, private, coaching centers as Tobacco Free and also install signages. Besides that the CMO shall declare all the educational institutions as TOFEI Complaint.
Tehsildars and all BDOs have been instructed to ensure enforcement drives are conducted in their respective jurisdictions without any negligence and also submit proper action for declaring at least two villages from each Tehsil/Block as Tobacco Free Villages.
Similarly, as per the directive Executive Officer MC Shopian shall ensure that all prominent public places in Municipal Limits are declared as Tobacco Free Zones with proper installation of signage.
“Also ensure that no tobacco products are on sale in the radius of 100 yards from the public places, school, coaching institutions, government buildings and Court Complex.”
Like other parts of the valley, Shopian district is set to launch Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0 and many activities under the nationwide tobacco program would be held.
Earlier, the Health Ministry decided to implement Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0 across the country to escalate public awareness on harmful effects of Tobacco Products, Implementation of Tobacco Free Educational Intuitions (TOFEI guidelines), Tobacco Free Villages concept (TFV), enhance enforcement of COTPA-2003 and PECA-2019.
Officials said the campaign will be conducted for two months from Sept 24 to Nov 2024 in pursuance to directions from Govt. of India many activities were planned in the district.
They said under the nationwide campaign all the educational institutions would be declared as TOFEI compliant and minimum 20 villages would be declared as tobacco free villages.
As per the communication, SSP Shopian has been asked to direct concerned SHOs to carry out enforcement drives in all public places of the district and CMO/CEO/Tehsildars concerned will lend necessary support.
Principal I. M Degree College Shopian has been asked to ensure that the college is tobacco free and ensure that no tobacco products are on sale within radius of 100 yards from the college and declare it TOFEI complaint
The Union Health Ministry introduced the first Tobacco Free Youth Campaign last year, on May 31, 2023, in celebration of World No Tobacco Day. This year the Ministry launched Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 2.0 to motivate young people to quit tobacco use.
Under the initiative, the health department will be promoting tobacco free villages where communities work together to eliminate tobacco and create a healthier environment.
As per the NHS figures, the prevalence of tobacco in Kashmir includes Kupwara 56 percent, Shopian 52 percent, Anantnag and Bandipora 49 percent, Budgam 48, Pulwama 44, Ganderbal 42, Baramulla and Kulgam 41 percent and Srinagar 38 percent.
Health officials said the lack of dedicated manpower in districts poses a challenge for the health department in terms of enforcement. Despite the government’s blanket ban on e-cigarettes and loose cigarettes, the sale of loose cigarettes continues to be widespread.