Reader's Forum
Health is wealth. But we neglect this valuable advice by smoking.
According to a report recently released by 'Work for Better Bangladesh', Bangladesh spends Taka 27.4 billion for fighting diseases out of tobacco but earns taka 24.8 billion only as tax. It is alarming both from the economic point of view and the hygienic condition.
In Bangladesh, a large number of village people use gul (one kind of tobacco items) alternative to biri and cigarette for poor income, and suffer from diseases out of it. Since gul is less costlier than biri, the poor becoming more and more prone to it. One can get it at almost all the shops selling betel leaf and cigarettes. Ninety percent of the users treat it as tobacco group while ten percent use it as tooth cleaning object without knowing that they will someday or other be addicted.
There are 80 to 90 gul-manufacturing shops in the country. Most of these are situated in the Southern districts.
Sources said, about one crore of taka is transacted everyday on account of gul. But surprisingly the manufacturers do not pay taxes, as there is no tax on it. The same source said, government could earn a good amount as revenue from this item provided tax was imposed as done in case of biri and cigarettes.
Since Bangladesh has signed International Tobacco Control Convention, it implies upon the government to bring Gul under taxation system.
Executive Director, The Mother Bangladesh
© Copyright 2003 by The New Nation
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