Mandals steer clear of tobacco companies…….Aarefa Johari
This year for the first time pandals in the city do not host any banners of companies that sell tobacco products, said the Ganeshotsav organising committee. The Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti said that this means that the pandals have refused any sort of sponsorship from these companies.
While the Tobacco Control Act of 2003 bans direct advertising of tobacco products in public places, the advertising of surrogate products by tobacco companies is not yet illegal.
This is the first year that we have registered a complete success in our efforts to curb these ads, said Naresh Dahibawkar, president of the Samiti, which had 50 of its volunteers touring the city to inspect the sponsor banners of more than 12,000 city pandals.
Dahibawkar and his team held special meetings with representatives from all pandals before the start of the festival this year.
We appealed to them not to advertise any surrogate tobacco companies, and so far have received only positive reports.
Smoke-Free Mumbai Campaign has organised a ‘Smoke Free Ganesh Mandal’ competition to boost the cause this year.
Dr Surendra Shastri, chairperson of the organisation said, Ganesh mandals are steering clear of sponsorships from these companies, so the achievement is commendable.
Though registrations for the contest are not very high, at least 50 pandals have agreed to participate by putting up detailed Marathi banners about the law banning smoking in public places.
Mandals taking up anti-tobacco activities such as local drawing competitions will be judged by our health educators, said Mayuri Sawant, communications manager for Smoke-Free Mumbai.
Registrations for the competition are still open.