New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS): The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take immediate steps to make the country free of the burden of tobacco.

"Controlling tobacco use will be a primordial prevention, especially when it comes to the young population, which will save many millions of lives. We at FAIMA request you to kindly look into this matter as early as possible and take immediate steps to help the country become tobacco-free," read the letter.

The doctors' association said in the letter that tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats in the country, which not only leads to loss of lives, but also has heavy social and economic costs for the public.

The FAIMA has also launched a campaign to educate the people about the ill-effects of tobacco.

"The most prevalent form of tobacco use in India is smokeless tobacco such as 'khaini', 'gutkha' and 'paan' with 'zarda'. Other smoking forms of tobacco are 'bidi', cigarette and 'hookah'. We request you to control the use of tobacco in every form to save the population and remove public health threats," read the letter.

"Through the 'Tobacco-Free India' campaign, we are trying to make the public aware of the ill-effects of tobacco. We initially launched the campaign at every medical college of the country; later, we will expand it in the public domain," said Ajay Kumar Singh, national president, FAIMA.