Mysore/Mysuru: As part of World No Tobacco Day, Arivu Samsthe had organised a programme to create awareness on the ill-effects of tobacco consumption at Nanjumalige Circle in city yesterday.

Krishnaraja (KR) Inspector L. Srinivas, who was the chief guest, inaugurated the programme by pouring water on tobacco products and destroying them.

Speaking on the occasion, Inspector Srinivas said that if people come forward to create a tobacco-free society, it is only then that a healthy society can be created. Regretting that more number of youths were getting addicted to tobacco at present, he called upon them to shun tobacco products for their own good.

Continuing, the Inspector said that if a person gets addicted to tobacco, he would suffer from physical and mental illness and hence teachers and parents should take the responsibility of creating awareness on the bad effects of tobacco consumption to their students and children. Every year, 60 lakh people die in the world due to tobacco consumption related diseases, he added.

District Kannada Sahitya Parishat former President M. Chandrashekar, who also spoke said that tobacco consumption causes various illness for which awareness should be created and added that if the quantity of tobacco products being manufactured comes down, growing of tobacco would also come down drastically.

K.R. Co-operative Bank Vice-President Basavaraju (Basappa), former Corporator M.D. Parthasarathy, Arivu President Srikanth Kashyap, industrialist Apoorva Suresh, leaders Jayashankar Swamy, Harish Naidu, Yadunandan and others were present.