HT Correspondent

MANGALDAI, May 31:  Along with rest of the state the World No Tobacco Day has been observed in Darrang district on Monday.  Due to  the prevailing Covid situation the district health society and the tobacco control cell jointly observed the day by holding awareness programme among the Assam police personnel across different police stations in the district adhering to the Covid protocols.
Speaking on the occasion among other nodal officer, district tobacco control cell, Dr Nirmal Kumar Beria highlighted the adverse effects of use of both smoke tobacco and smokeless with special reference to present Covid pandemic situation.

On the other hand students and teachers of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Darrang, the only residential  academic institution of the district under the Ministry of HRD  observed the  day with two day programme since Sunday. The celebration under Covid protocols included community awareness in nearby villages,  administering pledge against use of tobacco through virtual means and a seminar on the topic ” Tobacco and Lung Health – in the context of Covid19.” among others Principal P Rajesh and senior post graduate teacher Devika Dutta led the pledge ceremony while sub divisional medical and health officer, Darrang Dr Ramesh Ch Goswami as the speaker presented papers in the seminar.
Northfield Academy
“World No Tobacco Day” has been celebrated at Northfield Academy. Director R Parveen organised an online meeting with his staff and workers and made them aware about the deadly diseases caused by tobacco. He also said during the meeting that according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2009-10, about 35 percent of Indians use tobacco in some way or the other. Of these 47% are men and 20.2% women, the abortion rate among women who use tobacco is about 15% higher than normal women. Lung cancer, heart attacks, respiratory diseases are more common among women due to tobacco use, and she request everyone to be a part of the campaign “Commit to Quit” organised by the World Health Organization by saying no to tobacco.