RAWALPINDI: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi Muhammad Ali has directed the authorities concerned to make Murree a tobacco-free zone to provide a clean and healthy atmosphere to millions of tourists who visit the hill station annually.
According to a district administration spokesman, the DC had directed the authorities to take solid steps to make Murree a tobacco-free zone. Murree is a beautiful tourist resort and place of entertainment where the tourists come from all over the country for sightseeing and recreation; he said adding, tobacco-free Murree would reflect smoke-free Pakistan.
The decision was a part of the larger Tobacco Smoke-Free Cities of Pakistan initiative of the federal government, he added. The DC instructed the officers to take all possible steps in collaboration with the authorities of the Ministry of National Health to make Murree, a tobacco-free tourist resort.
He further said that all recreational places in other tehsils of Rawalpindi district would also be made tobacco-free areas. Rawalpindi would be the first district in Pakistan where all tourist spots to be made smoke-free, he added.
The spokesman informed that the DC had ordered the authorities concerned to install ‘No Smoking’ boards outside all schools and colleges in Rawalpindi under the Tobacco Smoke-Free Cities project of the federal government.
No Smoking signboards with a warning of punitive action should also be displayed at all the government offices, health centres, hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, court buildings, cinema halls, conference or seminar halls, public transport vehicles, sports stadiums, recreational areas, and other public places.
According to Director Tobacco Control Rawalpindi, Dr. Samra Mazhar, nearly 160,000 people in Pakistan die due to smoking every year. The deaths due to smoking could be prevented. The sale of cigarettes to persons under 18 years of age is prohibited under the law besides the sale, distribution, and storage of cigarettes up to 50 meters from education institutions is also prohibited which should be implemented in letter and spirit, she added.