YPSA organized a workshop on Implementation of Tobacco Control Law in Feni with the assistance of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Bloomberg Philanthropies on 9th December 2015 at the Conference room, DC Office of Feni. The District Commissioner Mr. Humayan Kabir Khondokar was the present as chief guest while Dr. Ismail Hossain Siraji, Civil Surgeon, Mr.Enamul Hoque, ADC (Additional District Comissioner), Mr P K M Anamul Karim UNO Feni (sadar), Mr. Jalal saifur Rahman, ADM (Additional District Magistrate) of Feni district were present as guest speakers in the workshop.
Local administration, taskforce, authorized officer and law enforcing bodies are the key actors to enforce the Tobacco Control Law and Rules and YPSA’s aim to ensure the direct enforcement of TC Law and Rules in project working areas through these key actors. So, the district taskforce members, authorized officer, representatives from Feni Pouroshava were the participants of the workshop.
The main objectives of the workshop were to share Tobacco control law and Rules, share role and responsibility of authorized officer/magistrate/taskforce and develop action plans for implementing TC law. MR. Muhammed Ali Shahin, Program Manager of Smoke Free Project of YPSA has facilitated the workshop and shared the information on harms of tobacco use, global and country status, government initiatives, overview of the amendment TC law and Rules, violation of laws, TC law compliance findings, role of authorized officer, taskforce and magistrate. At the end of the workshop, each participant has shared their next initiatives to implement the TC law at their jurisdiction.
The DC Mr Humayan Kabir Khondokar ensured that he would enforce the amended law and the rules on tobacco control in Feni District and follow up with the CTG. Divisional Commissioner Office. He said mobile court on the use of tobacco product would be a regular action of Feni DC office. He also added that Feni district administration office would also work on Ad ban, controlling sell points, stopping promotion of tobacco products.
The participants agreed that tobacco control should be addressed by all sectors as an important issue. It needs to have a strong implementation and reporting mechanism and government should take lead on it. They also emphasized to take awareness building initiatives for reducing the tobacco uses and production in Bangladesh.
