Cancel shop licence if tobacco is sold near educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada: Officials
Mangaluru (Karnataka) Aug 8: Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada D Santhosh Kumar on Thursday ordered the authorities to take stern action against shopkeepers selling cigarettes and tobacco products within a 100-metre radius of schools and colleges.
“If the shopkeepers are found violating the sections of COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003), officials must take action mercilessly and cancel their trade licences” he said.
He was addressing a district-level coordination meeting under the National Tobacco Control Programme for the year 2024-25 held at the district office on August 8.
He gave the order to the Mangaluru city corporation officials and asked them to submit a monthly report to the Deputy Commissioner.
He said surveys conducted indicate that the consumption of tobacco is increasing among workers. The Labor Department and the District Tobacco Control Cell, in collaboration with Wenlock Hospital, should go to the workers' colonies and create awareness about the ill effects of tobacco consumption, he said.
In rural areas, Gram Panchayat Panchayat Development Officers should conduct continuous operations on tobacco control. He told them to raid and cancel the licence if tobacco is being sold within 100 metres of schools, colleges, religious places and anganwadis.
He directed the City Corporation, Excise Department, Labour Department, Education Department, Women and Child Welfare Department, and other concerned departments to take action in case of any illegal sale of tobacco in their jurisdiction.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
