The Punjab Government today declared Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Gurdaspur and Fatehgarh Sahib as ‘tobacco-free’ districts. Speaking on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal said the School of Public Health, PGI, had in its report confirmed that there were no "active smokers" in these districts. Mohali, Mansa, Ropar and Amritsar districts have already been declared “tobacco- free”. In Sangrur, about 90,000 students from more than 350 schools today took a pledge not to use tobacco products and to help tobacco users to give up the habit by educating them on its life-threatening effects. A district-level function was organised at Government Senior Secondary School at Uppli village near Sangrur where District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Surinder Singla spoke on the ill-effects of tobacco that contained more than 4,000 harmful chemicals. He said tobacco was the root cause of more than 50 kinds of cancer as well as heart ailments. Dr Singla, a TB specialist, said in Sangrur district at least 1,000 persons had been challaned and fined for smoking at public places from January to May this year. Additional DC Pritam Singh Johl asked the students to motivate addicts to give up habit-forming drugs, especially tobacco products. Civil Surgeon Dr Subodh Gupta and District Education Officer (Secondary) Nirmal Singh Sohi sought a ban on advertisements promoting the use of tobacco products.