Anantnag: Sheikhgund Shangus village of South Kashmir's Anantnag district took a collective decision to ban both the sale and consumption of tobacco-based products. The community is united to ban cigarette smoking and tobacco from their village declaring use and sale of tobacco products as an offence, setting an inspiring precedent for adjacent villages.
The transformation began a month ago when villagers gathered in the local Mosque to pledge a collective stand against smoking and the use of tobacco. It was not just a symbolic gesture, rather people of the village formally implemented it on the ground.
The villagers elucidate that the reasons behind enforcing the ban are the health concerns for all, especially to protect the new generation from smoking addiction besides curbing anti-social activities and behaviours in society because cigarette smoking is a gateway to more destructive drug use.
Grocery shop keepers vowed to stop selling cigarettes, and tobacco-based products, and resident smokers committed to quitting the habit for good. Banners and play cards related to this have been pasted at every grocery shop in the village reading,'' No Smoking" We don't sell Cigarettes drugs and tobacco "Say No to Drugs"No Smoking In This area"Thank you for Your Cooperation.
Abdul Rashid Mir a local grocery shopkeeper proudly says to ETV Bharat that he does not sell cigarettes or tobacco-related products anymore. Why should we earn from something that will cause destruction to our youth and the new generation? This is also prohibited in our religion, it is unethical and against the spiritual norms. We have taken a pledge and we strictly adhere to it.
Mir Muzaffar a youth sharing his personal experience says, I was a chain smoker, I smoked cigarettes for over 15 years,I was quite inspired by this initiative and got the courage to quit smoking,I feel much better after quitting smoking, a good number of other youth smokers also quit the smoking.
Mir Jafar (30), a private school teacher by profession started this initiative and, took the villagers into confidence by counselling them regarding the demerits of tobacco drugs and smoking. He got the full support of the village community to commence implementing the exercise on the ground.
Now Jafar is emerging as a local hero. Jafar says we started with ourselves to curb this menace, we hope this initiative inspires other villages and this wave will spread with acceleration. It has to be eradicated and this is the only way to eradicate the drugs from society. It ruins our generation, smoking isn’t just a health hazard it’s a gateway to more destructive drug use, Jafar said.
Jafar said every section of the village is supporting this initiative, shopkeepers are ready to sacrifice their earnings for a greater cause, the youth of the village are also giving their full support, smokers quitting smoking, to make this initiative a grand success and the results have already been transformative, seventy to eighty per cent smokers quit smoking till now.
Jafar said that the initiative is designed to keep the Sheikhgund village tobacco and smoking free, this is our main objective, and we hope we will succeed. After imposing the ban, we are witnessing a positive change within our village, Jafar said.
