NEW DELHI: Delhi University will soon get a rehabilitation centre to help students quit smoking and drinking, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said."The Delhi University is leading in carrying anti-tobacco programme and I promise that very soon the varsity will get a rehabilitation centre," he told reporters after attending a programme on 'smoking-free campus' organized by the students' union.

According to World Lung Organisation data, of the 40,000 students studying in the north campus of the university, 24 per cent boys and seven per cent girls are smokers."When film stars like Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are brand ambassadors for health programmes like National Rural Health Mission and Polio Campaign, they should avoid smoking on screen," he added.

"This is especially important when movies contribute to almost 52 per cent of promotion of the killer habit," the Health Minister said.India should not only be smoking-free but it should be comprehensively tobacco free by 2020, he said.Citing the examples of Irish pubs and French Cafes, he said the health ministry is confident that with strong will and awareness, it is possible to eliminate deep-rooted evils like consuming tobacco products and alcoholism in India.However, Ramadoss expressed confidence that anti-tobacco efforts will be able to overcome internal and external oppositions.