The heart of Odisha’s administration will no longer carry the smell of smoke or the stain of tobacco spit. The Health and Family Welfare Department has issued a notification declaring the entire Lok Seva Bhawan campus a “tobacco-free zone,” citing public health, a cleaner workplace and protection for both employees and visitors.
The order is unambiguous. Smoking, chewing tobacco and spitting tobacco products are completely prohibited inside the secretariat premises. Any violation will be treated as a punishable offence under the law.
The notification places the decision in a larger health crisis. Tobacco use remains a leading driver of cancer, heart disease, lung illness and other non-communicable diseases. The department notes that tobacco claims nearly 13 lakh lives in India every year.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Mukesh Mahaling framed the move as both a workplace reform and a public example. “This step has been taken to strengthen the goals of Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat and the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, and to make Lok Seva Bhawan a clean, healthy and tobacco-free workplace,” he said.
He added that the anti-tobacco campaign is being intensified under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. “We are always ready to give the next generation a healthy life and the right message. Our efforts for complete abstinence from tobacco will continue in the days ahead.”
The symbolism is hard to miss. Lok Seva Bhawan is not just another office complex; it is where the state’s policy machine works. By drawing a hard line at its own gates, the government is signalling that the campaign against tobacco will start where decisions are made.
For employees, the change is immediate: no smoking corners, no gutkha breaks, no stained walls or staircases. For the public walking into the campus for work, the message is equally clear — the state’s most visible workplace will not normalise a habit that kills hundreds of thousands every year.
Whether the ban remains a notice on paper or becomes a daily discipline will depend on enforcement. The notification, however, leaves little room for ambiguity. Inside Lok Seva Bhawan, tobacco is no longer just discouraged. It is banned.
