HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, March 31: DTCC, Sivasagar conducted enforcement drives in Sivasagar town against violations of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA 2003).
A total of 27 violations were found during the two-day long drive recently and an amount of Rs. 5400 was collected as fine from shopkeepers along Boarding field, Siva Doul, Station Road and other localities who were mostly found violating Section 6 (B) of the COTPA Act 2003, which prohibits “sale of tobacco products within the radius of 100 yards of educational institutions”.
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The raiding team was led by Dr Dipamoni Saikia, district nodal officer, District Tobacco Control Cell (DTCC) Sivasagar and accompanied by Rudhir Prakash Sarma, divisional coordinator, Tobacco Control and a team of police and CRPF personnel. Conscious citizens as well as curious youngsters who witnessed the drive enquired about the purpose of the drive & when enlightened about it they were highly appreciative of the initiative undertaken by the DTCC, Sivasagar & the police department.
As per Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2017 & Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2019, 48.2% of adults and 11.9% youths respectively use tobacco in some form of the other. It has also been found that the age of initiation into tobacco use is as low as 8 years in our country. This coupled with the fact that nicotine found in tobacco which is 1000 times more addictive than alcohol makes it almost impossible for users to give up tobacco consumption. Tobacco users desirous of quitting it can make use of the National Tobacco Quitline Number -1800112356 which is a toll-free number.
