Not only this, headed by director level health official, STCC has not held any meeting since its constitution for past two years. Director (Medical Care) NP Singh, who heads STCC, has not convened any meeting since the cell came into being. Activists working for anti-tobacco awareness blame this on the apathy of authorities.
“We hardly find any signage at government offices. The Union government has provided 500 signages in all districts. It is a pity that none of them have come up at places to create awareness” rued Sharma. Added another activist, Pranay Lal, “Going by administrative apathy, it will not come as a surprise if the rules under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 are openly violated. The monitoring for the pictorial warnings on tobacco products will also suffer with no follow up at local level.”
When contacted, director general medical health, Dr IS Srivastava said the matter was brought to his notice recently. “I have issued specific orders to ensure that STCC becomes functional in a month’s time,” he claimed.
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.
Source: Times of India
