SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, July 18: Cigarettes, Charas, Ganja, and Chilam have been banned in the month-long Deoghar Shravan Mela starting from July 22 as the district administration has declared it a ‘no smoking zone’.
In this regard, Deoghar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Vishal Sagar on Thursday issued a notification banning smoking and the use of all types of tobacco products in the Mela region during the period.
Now, if anyone is caught smoking or using tobacco products during the mela period in the area he would be fined Rs 200 under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003.
The notification would be effective from Dumma (from entry point of Jharkhand from Bihar to Baba Dham temple).
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Since more than lakh devotees from different states arrive per day to offer Gangajal to Baba Baidyanath during Shravani Mela, the district administration has put up posters and banners on both sides of the 105 km long Kanwar path ( right from Duma to Baba temple) for their information.
Deoghar public relations officer Rohit Vidyarthi said that as per the directive of the deputy commissioner, other means have also been adopted to make people aware of danger of smoking and tobacco product use.
Since devotees of Baba Baidyanath smoke Ganja, Charas, and Bhang as Prasad of Lord Shiva on a large scale during Kanwar Yatra, flying squads have also formed to check and convince such types of devotees notvto do that.
In 2018 Shrawani Mela Deoghar registered a national record collection COTPA fine of Rs 1.5 lakh by booking 5100 violaters during the month. Dr Krisha Kumar was civil surgeon of Deoghar and the state government felicitated him for awareness.
As per the recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey reports prevalence rate of tobacco product users in Jharkhand is 38.9% against the national prevalence of 28.6% Neighbourhood Bihar has 25.9 % less than the nation.
