NEW DELHI: The Delhi Government was left red-faced recently after it was forced to withdraw an order restricting an NGO from carrying out an anti-tobacco campaign in the capital. The Delhi State Tobacco Control Office, which works under the Delhi Government’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), had prohibited the NGO, Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS), from carrying out any anti-tobacco activity through an order issued on November 20.
While refusing to allow SEEDS from associating with the government in tobacco control initiatives, S K Arora, additional director in the tobacco control office, had in his order claimed that the NGO, funded by Bloomberg for tobacco control in India, despite repeated requests had failed to provide information related to the project for seven months.
Protesting Arora’s directive, SEEDS executive director Deepak Mishra, in a letter to the principal secretary (Health and Family Welfare) of the Delhi government on December 5, said the decision was taken in haste, without giving SEEDS an opportunity to present its case, and with the sole aim of weakening the anti-tobacco initiative in the country.The DGHS on December 14 shifted out Arora, calling it a routine transfer. Through a circular dated December 18, it then allowed the NGO to operate in Delhi.