By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 1 Sep: The third quarterly meeting of Uttarakhand Tobacco Free Coalition (UTFC) was held, here, on Tuesday.
Director, National Health Mission, Uttarakhand, Dr Saroj Naithani was the Chief Guest and inaugurated the meeting. Dr Rana J Singh, Deputy Regional Director, The Union, South-East Asia, attended as a special guest through virtual mode.
Commander Anil Agnihotri (Retd) gave the welcome address. He stated that the Uttarakhand Tobacco Free Coalition has been formed to advocate for an effective tobacco control programme in the state, to provide strategic suggestions and ideas in this regard. Balajee Sewa Sansthan (BSS) has actively contributed to the formation of the Coalition.
Dr Saroj Naithani congratulated Balajee Sewa Sansthan for taking the initiative to form the coalition. She highlighted the role of NGOs, Civil Society in tobacco control. She made UTFC members aware of the state government’s initiatives for tobacco control. She also stated that only joint efforts can make all schools, panchayats, religious and tourist and work places tobacco-free in Uttarakhand.
Dr Rana J Singh highlighted the role of academic institutions, NGOs and Government in eradicating this menace from society as well as culture. Multi-stakeholder collaboration was recommended as a control measure. He gave the slogan, ‘Äao Gaon Chalein’, highlighting the need to reaching out to the villages and panchayats for the tobacco-free campaign. He requested the state government to adopt and formulate the FCTC Article 5.3 Policy to stop tobacco industry’s interference.
Dr Pradeep Aggarwal, Associate Professor, Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh promised the support of his institute to UTFC.
The meeting was conducted by Pradeep Anand. Awadhesh Kumar, Executive Director, Balajee Sewa Sansthan, led the open discussion session.
Members of civil society, media persons and other stakeholders actively participated in the meeting. Some of the UTFC members from various districts got connected through virtual mode – JSS Bageshwar, AYUSH Haridwar, PASS Pithoragarh, Adarsh Sewa Santha, Adrash Yuva Samiti, Haridwar, etc.
Dr Bimal Kant Nautiyal, Executive Member, UTFC, proposed the vote of thanks.
