Govt picks 14 fields to spend surcharge on tobacco products

The government has chosen 14 fields to spend the 1 percent surcharge on tobacco products three years after levying it.

Chief Crimes Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 16 Oct 2017, 10:04 PM
Updated : 17 Oct 2017, 02:44 PM

The Cabinet in the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday cleared the Health Development Surcharge Management Policy 2017, in which the fields to spend the surcharge were named.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed the reporters about the policy.

The 14 fields include operations of the National Tobacco Control Cell, task force to implement tobacco control law, tobacco tax cell under the NBR, anti-tobacco campaign and research.

"The prime minister has announced to make Bangladesh free from tobacco within 2040. We are working on achieving that target," the Cabinet secretary said.

In a statement, anti-tobacco group Progga hailed the health ministry, the National Tobacco Control Cell, and all anti-tobacco campaigners for the Cabinet clearance to the policy.

Slapped in 2014, the 1 percent surcharge on tobacco products brought the government Tk 3 billion annually, which was spent on the health sector.

But according to recent media reports, Tk 9 billion collected as surcharge in the past three financial years is lying idle as there was no guideline on spending the fund.