No smoking zone to be enforced in 100 meter radius outside schools

KATHMANDU: On the occasion of the World No-Tobacco Day today, the Primary Health Service Centre is set to declare 100 metre radius area outside the compound of 540 schools in 54 districts also as no-smoking zone.

Centre´s Executive Director Shantalal Mulmi said that this measure is being taken to effectively enforce the ban on the sale of tobacco products and alcohol on the 100 metres perimeter at schools provided in by the Tobacco Control and Regulation Act and the Alcohol Control Policy.

Speaking in a news conference the Centre held on Thursday, Mulmi said the Centre would implement this policy at 540 schools in 54 districts through the Health Rights and Tobacco Control District Networks in those districts. In the first phase, 10 schools from these 54 districts would be selected for this purpose.

He said five students each from the district-based networks would be trained on the provisions enshrined in the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Act and mobilized for the implementation of this program.