PATNA: With an aim to improving the implementation of COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act), Union home secretary Anil Goswami has written to DGPs of all states, including Bihar, asking them to include the Act violation in the monthly crime review (MCR) meetings.
The DGPs have been asked to direct SHOs to include the Act violation figures in their respective district crime review meetings and send the reports to the Union ministries of health and home thrice in a year.
This is the first time when a home secretary has written letter to DGPs for proper implementation of COTPA. Earlier in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Union health additional secretary had written letter to chief secretaries and DGPs of all states. But the Act was not implemented properly, particularly in Bihar, forcing activists to request Union home secretary to direct DGPs to include its violation strictly in MCR.
Bihar, which has the highest consumption of tobacco across the country, does not have a very healthy record in terms of COTPA implementation.
According to statistics, out of the total 44 police districts, including four railway police districts in Bihar, only 13-15 districts are including COTPA violations in their MCR. Except Madhubani (average 100 challans) and Saupal (average 30 challans), others are reporting less than 20 challans on a monthly basis, T P Sinha of Cancer Awareness Society said.
On an average, Bihar does not report more than 400 violations per month, whereas states like Karnataka and Kerala report over 8,000 and 7,000 cases of violations on monthly basis.
Despite appointing an ADM as nodal officer for tobacco control, there are at least nine districts in the state which show only zero to five persons fined under various sections of the Act in the MCR. The nine districts are Patna, Arwal, Bagaha (police district), Darbhanga, Gopalganj, Jehanabad, Naugachhia (police district), Purnia and Rohtas.
Govt renews ban on gutka
The state government, for the third consecutive year, has renewed the ban on gutka and pan masala containing tobacco. It was banned in 2012 by the food safety commissioner as per a regulation of Food Safety and Standards Act for a year after which it is being renewed every year. However, SEEDS executive director Deepak Mishra demanded that on the lines of four states, including Maharashtra and Mizoram, the state government should also bring in cabinet notification and ban all forms of smokeless tobacco. The food safety wing of the health department even sent a note to this effect to higher authorities, but no concrete step was taken yet.
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