BMC schools and Salaam Mumbai Foundation to The Fore
Where the government spreads awareness about tobacco abuse, NGOs also spearhead anti-tobacco movements everywhere. Salaam Mumbai Foundation strongly feels that consuming tobacco and its allied products are detrimental to human health and may lead to cancer.
Surprisingly, police personnel and BEST staff are also addicted to tobacco. In view of this, students of BMC schools and volunteers of Salaam Mumbai Foundation are going around police stations to educate the police personnel of tobacco abuse and its adverse effect on their health. Salaam Mumbai Foundation, along with the students of BMC’s Goshala Road school, enlightened the Navghar Police officials in Mulund(E) recently about the untold harm tobacco consumption could cause to their well-being. On this occasion, the students spoke of their own experiences about tobacco abuse.
Salaam Mumbai Foundation’s Yogesh Ojha claims that this awareness campaign was launched in Mulund and Bhandup in 2009 and, till now, they have covered 94 police stations where policemen have been made aware of this malaise which can claim lives. However, before this campaign started, the school kids themselves were made acquainted about the harmful effects of consuming tobacco and its by-products, with special emphasis on how tobacco use seriously affects our health every second. These kids were rounded up for this campaign so that they would carry this message to others. Moreover, this instils a sense of confidence in the students who can then impart this knowledge to the general public. Through this campaign, police personnel were taught how to kick this habit as only watching advertisements does not suffice. Till the ill-effects of this dreaded past-time of chewing tobacco and its allied products are not sufficiently made known, its consumers will never realise its life-threatening effects till it is too late. A pity, indeed!!!
