The New Nation - Internet Edition

Syful Islam

Health practitioners and economists have expressed dismay as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recently given award to some of the tobacco companies for paying considerable Value Added Tax (VAT) to the national exchequer.

They said such recognition to the tobacco companies by the government revenue body will encourage other organisations to sell more tobacco posing a grave threat to public health.

They also said, as a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Bangladesh can't encourage tobacco sell or promotion.

Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam on November 5 has awarded crests and certificates to 67 district-level organisations for clearing all dues such as duty and hefty amount of VAT. Three tobacco companies were among them.

The ceremony, presided over by NBR Chairman Mohammad Abdul Majid, was addressed by one of the award recipients Rahim Uddin Bharosa, the owner of the Aziz Bidi Factory in Rangpur.

The two other tobacco companies, which got recognition, are Akiz Bidi and Abul Khayer Tobacco.

Available statistics shows that, deaths from tobacco-related diseases are increasing and last year about 57,000 people died of tobacco related complications. At present, more than 30 million people in this country are tobacco users.

According to Tobacco Free Centre, more than 36.8 per cent people aged over 15 use tobacco. Of them 48.6 per cent are men and 25.5 per cent are women. Around 5.9 per cent youths in Dhaka aged between 13 and 15 use tobacco of which 9.5 per cent are men and 2.0 per cent are women. More than 10 per cent of young people use tobacco other than cigarette.

Despite sharp rise in the price of daily necessities prices of tobacco products like bidi and cigarette have declined over the last decade creating room for poor people to smoke more. Measures to reduce tobacco use or increase tobacco prices are hardly seen, experts say.

However, following continuous advocacy from the civil society organisations the government in the last budget imposed 60 per cent supplementary duty on the raw materials for manufacturing cigarettes and 20 per cent on the papers used in producing packaging materials of cigarettes.

In his budget speech the Finance Adviser also proposed to raise the price structure of cigarettes, tariff value of handmade cigarettes (bidi) and applicable supplementary duty.

Reports from countryside said that farmers are being encouraged to cultivate tobacco instead of other crop. Farmers in Munshigonj area recently announced that they will prefer to cultivate tobacco instead of potato as tobacco cultivation is more beneficial for them. The tobacco companies provide fertilisers, seeds and other expenses to farmers in advance to encourage them for tobacco production.

Assistant Professor of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital Dr Abdul Mukit said number of cancer and kidney disease patients has increased at an alarming rate in recent times. Besides, number of patients with high blood pressure also increased, he said and blamed the increase of tobacco use for the sharp rise of the cancer patients.

He said smoking or use of tobacco may cause three serious diseases at the first stage. None of the medicines is effective for the patients who use tobacco, he added.

Noted economist Prof Dr Abul Barkat told The New Nation that the yearly health cost of tobacco is Tk 10,000 crore while earnings from the sector is nearly Tk 2500 crore.

He said Bangladesh is one of the signatories of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and also enacted tobacco control act. Giving award to tobacco companies for considerable Vat paying is contradictory to the convention, he noted.

Referring the article 7 and 13 of Bangladesh constitution Barkat said the government is responsible for the health safety of people. Recognition to the tobacco companies is totally contrary to those articles of the constitution, he added.

Dr Atiur Rahman said the government should impose more tax and VAT on tobacco to discourage its use. He said increase of VAT realisation proves that use of tobacco increased a lot.

He said the health ministry should intervene on the rising cultivation of tobacco in certain region to stop it.

Prof Dr Abu Ahmed said consumption of tobacco should be discouraged. The government should take appropriate measures," he suggested.