By IANS,
Gurgaon: Ahead of the ‘World No-Tobacco Day’ on May 31, school children and members of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) held a protest rally outside the office of a cigarette manufacturing company here Saturday to protest against tobacco sale among children.
“The idea is to bring the government’s attention to the cigarette manufacturers’ lobby against whom it stands weak when it comes to stronger pictorial warnings on cigarette packets and the warning message that is ineffective,” said Pankaj Sharma from the NGO, Centre for Transforming India.
“The pictorial warnings on the cigarette packets are almost invisible, and the elite manufacturers place warnings in English which is again ignored by most of the smokers,” added Sharma.
The rally saw participation from over 100 children and school teachers who had gathered outside the office of Indian Tobacco Company (ITC).
According to the guidelines issued to educational institutions by the Delhi High Court, schools and colleges must take steps to prohibit sale of tobacco products inside the premises of the institutions. They must display signs on the main gate and on boundary walls and ban smoking or chewing of tobacco or tobacco products inside the campus by all.