Association for Community Development (ACD), a non-government organisation based in Rajshahi, formed an hour-long Online human chain from 11-00 am to 12-00 noon on Thursday (June-4) demanding imposition of a higher tax and an increased price of all tobacco products in the budget of 2020-2021 fiscal year.
The human chain programme was participated, among others, by Mayor of Rangpur City Corporation Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa, formerly departmental head of the department of Bangla of Rangpur Begum Rokeya College Professor Shah Alam, Focal Person of Rangpur Tobacco Control Coalition Sushanta Bhoumik, Rajshahi Divisional Coordinator of Anti-tobacco Media Alliance Sharif Sumon, Executive Director of Shadow Khandker Sarwar Jamil, Lecturer of Maulana Keramat Ali College of Rangpur Ahsan Habib, Programme Director of ACD Sharmin Subrina, Director ( Finance) of ACD Pankaj Karmaker, Programme Manager of Tobacco Control Project Mostafa Kamal. Media Manager Amjad Hossain Shimul, Sharifur Islam Shamim, KrishnaRani Biswas, Anowar Hossain, Asaduzzaman Nur and Ekramul Haque. More than 150 people of various walks of life participated in the human chain programme.
During the programme, RCC Mayor Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa said, nearly 1,61,000 people are dying in the country due to tobacco-related diseases and more than 400,000 people of the country are affected with various fatal tobacco-related diseases annually in the country. Moreover, a survey report shows the annual financial loss due to the use of tobacco ( cost of treatment for tobacco-related diseases and loss of productivity) is Taka 30,560 crore. he demanded an increase of taxes on tobacco products and an increase in its price during the next budget to discourage people from using tobacco products.
