Chattagong Bureau: Member Parliament of Bangladesh from Chattagong Wasika Ayesha Khan expressed gratitude over the ongoing awareness against bad affects of tobacco use crated by the anti-tobacco NGOs. She urges the Prime Minister to take measures and make prices of the tobacco products beyond the purchasing capacity of juveniles of to save the future generations.She expressed concern that Bangladesh is one of the leading countries of tobacco use is the world. According a gobal Adult Tobacco Survey 2017, 35.3% adults (above 15 years) use tobacco . The percentage of tobacco addicted include 46% male and 25.% female. According to Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2013, of students aged between 13-15 years , 6.7 % are addicted to tobacco.
Wasika Ayesha Khan MP also mentioned that neighbouring country India and many developed countries have prohibited sale and import of tobacco products and we should follow their path. She called upon the concerned policy makers to impose VAT and Excise duty on tobacco productions, imports etc in the budget for 2020-21 so that students, juveniles are unable to procure tobacco products due to high costs. She also proposed to impose 3% additional Covid-19 surcharge which will help to meet the expenses of Covid -19 across the country.
The member parliament in an interview with the project officials of the NGOs urged Prime Minister to intervene in the matter of tax hike on tobacco products in the next budget as the Prime Minister pledged to build tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040.
