BACKGROUND: Sikar, Rajasthan, a prominent educational hub in India with over 50000 students, faces challenges in access and exposure of minors to tobacco products. High vendor density, easy access, and proximity to educational institutions (EIs) fuel violations of COTPA. Lack of warning signage, unsupervised minors, and inadequate monitoring further complicate COTPA enforcement. Coordinating enforcement efforts and raising awareness among vendors and residents remain critical hurdles.
METHODS: To address tobacco availability and COTPA violations in Sikar, the municipal corporation, with technical support from SRKPS and District Tobacco Control cell (DTCC), adopted a Tobacco Vendor Licensing (TVL) policy on May, 2023. The policy includes a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products near EIs and areas with high density of students. A baseline survey assessed 233 vendors across 65 wards, revealing a vendor density of approximately 90 vendors per square km. The survey also identified significant non-compliance issues, such as advertisements, product accessibility to minors, and lack of health warning signage at PoS. Awareness campaigns for vendors, regular monitoring, and collaboration between municipal authorities, DTCC, SRKPS strengthened enforcement.
RESULTS: Effective implementation of the TVL policy in Sikar has yielded significant progress in tobacco control. Post-implementation survey revealed a decline in tobacco advertisements from 64% to 9.5% and a reduction in the display of products accessible to minors from 89.27% to 35.1%. These results demonstrate the policy's success in promoting a tobacco-free environment and safeguarding the health of Sikar’s youth.
CONCLUSIONS: The TVL policy in Sikar has proven instrumental in reducing tobacco advertising, improving compliance with regulations, and limiting tobacco product accessibility to minors. By addressing vendor density and proximity to EIs TVL helps in preventing access and exposure of tobacco products to minors, highlighting the importance of robust municipal policies in advancing tobacco control objectives.