Mr. Mohammed Manjur Alam, Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation has declared smoke free Chittagong City Corporation. He said that 41 ward offices of Chittagong City Corporation would be smoke free from 7th December 2010 and all other public spaces and public transport would also be smoke free while he was present as chief guest in a view exchanging session on “Smoke Free Chittagong City Corporation” organized by YPSA. I concur with thirteen proposals made by YPSA for the Smoke Free City Corporation, he added. Mayor also declared some steps towards smoke free city corporation which were as follows
- Smoke Free messages will be published in all circulations of Chittagong City Corporation.
- Smoke free messages will be placed on around 70000 rickshaw’s licenses plat
- Chittagong City Corporation will form ward base smoke free committee headed by Ward councilors who will monitor and take grass root level initiatives in each ward.
- Mayor will call a meeting for implement the smoke free Chittagong City Corporation within a short time where YPSA will be invited.
- Mayor has given responsibility to Social Welfare standing committee and Health Department for smoke free initiatives
The meeting was held at Abdul Sattar Auditorium of Chittagong City corporation office on 6th December 2010 with the assistance of Bloomberg Initiatives and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. City Corporation has assisted YPSA to organize the meeting. Mr. Mohammed Manjur Alam, Mayor of City Corporation was the chief guest. Besides that Mr. Md. Samsuddoha, secretary and Mr. Dipak Chakrabarti, Chief Revenue Officer of Chittagong City Corporation and Professor Dr. A.Q.M Serajul Islam, ex-head of Skin and Venereal disease department of Chittagong Medical collage and hospital were presented as special guests. All councilors, panel mayor, officials of Chittagong City Corporation, smoke free coalition members and journalists were attended the meeting.
During the session, mayor signed on a board marked “Smoke Free Chittagong City Corporation”. YPSA handed over the Smoke Free Guideline to the Mayor.
Dr. Bishawarup Dev presented a slide show presentation on health hazards of smoking and Ms. Nasim Banu presented a slide show presentation on smoke free initiatives of YPSA and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC), present status of tobacco consumption in Bangladesh, benefits of smoke free environment and some proposal to CCC for the “Smoke Free City Corporation”. Proposals were as follows-
1. Adoption and implementation of smoke free guideline for the CCC.
2. Ensure implementation and enforcement of National Tobacco control act 2005
3. Declare “Smoke Free City Corporation” including all public places and public transport
4. Ban displaying of all tobacco advertisements like leaflets, posters, bill board, wall writing in the CCC area
5. Place smoke free messages on the license plats of all rickshaws and other vehicles.
6. Ban all tobacco product’s related display box in the CCC area
7. Prohibit tobacco products sale within 100 meter areas of all educational institutions which contribute to reduce tobacco consumption and also reduce Eve teasing
8. Take necessary steps for wall painting with smoke free messages in different places under Chittagong City Corporation
9. Operate mobile court regularly
10. Give responsibility to any department/unit/committee/person for the enforcement of smoke free laws and initiatives
11. Encourage employers to prioritize non-smokers for the job recruitment
12. Display ‘No Smoking’ Signage in all public places and public transport in CCC
13. Regular air quality monitoring
In the meeting YPSA has shared initiatives of Mr. Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City for “Smoke free New York City” as an example which also encouraged the participants to take some special decisions for smoke free city.
After the both presentation participants have participated in open discussion session and they has given some new ideas and their concern for smoke free city corporation. Besides that Mr. Jahangir Hossain, councilors of 26 no ward has officially declared that he will quit smoke from this meeting. Professor Dr. A.Q.M Serajul Islam, ex-head of Skin and venereal disease department of Chittagong Medical collage and hospital has moderated the discussion session. Mr. Palash Chowdhury, Director (Finance) was given welcome speech on behalf of YPSA.
