KOLKATA, Feb. 13: School-going children in West Bengal are more prone to get addicted to tobacco products. Thanks to the lack of awareness among people in these parts about the dangers of tobacco use. This was revealed by a voluntary organisation, West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA) this afternoon who have been engaged by the Union health ministry to spread awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco. Mr Tarun Kumar Maity, project manager (Tobacco Control Programme) of WBVHA and a member of Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control said: "When we visited a few schools in the districts of West Bengal, we discovered a large number of children are addicted to tobacco products and bidi was widely used. We even found school student bunking classes and smoking bidis at a hideout close to the school.' The association further focussed on the Union ministry's delay to implement pictorial warnings on tobacco packs and the ministry's inclination towards using a "softer' version of the warning. In an effort to initiate a pre-advocacy programme in various districts of the state, the association will start their pilot project in Cooch Behar and Murshidabad. A similar project has been planned for Darjeeling where they will spread awareness in hotels, restaurants and educational institutes. Stressing on the hurdles that are delaying the process, Mr Maity added: "We cannot move forward with the pre-advocacy project unless we receive the go-ahead from the government. The government has to plan and tell us how to exercise this programme.' However, it was learnt that the programme had already started in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The entire country's situation came to the forefront through a survey conducted by the ministry of health and family welfare in 26 states among children aged between 13-15. According to the survey report, 17.5 per cent children use tobacco products. Among the tobacco users, 8.3 per cent are prone to smoking and about 4.2 per cent use cigarettes.