PESHAWAR: Tobacco farmers on Wednesday have out-rightly rejected the proposed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Smoking/Tobacco Products and Protection of Non Smokers Health Bill, 2016, and termed it as anti-tobacco growers’ step.
The protesters demanded amendments in the bill in consultation with the farmers before its formal promulgation from the provincial assembly.
Addressing at press conference at press club, a representative of Kashtkar Coordination Council Awal Sher Khan said that the Provincial Government had recently presented a tobacco eradication bill in provincial assembly, without any consultation with farmers’ community.
Explaining the ground reality regarding tobacco sector, he said tobacco is a cash crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a lone source of income for more than 8,000 farmers. More than 250,000 members of growers’ family are dependent on this important sector, he maintained.
He furthermore said about 80 per cent tobacco is producing in nine districts of KP, including Swabi, Mardan, Charssada, Bunner, Nowshera, Swat, Malakand, and Manshera, etc.
Similarly, he informed that the Federal Government had collected Rs 115 billion as excise duty on tobacco, while provincial government was also generated millions of rupees revenue by imposition of tobacco cess. He further added that the authorities had already imposed various laws on tobacco.
Flanked by President Chamber of Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Zahir Khan, Provincial President Kissan Board Pakistan, Rizwanullah, Ikhtiyar Ahmad Khan, Zahir Khan and other scores of tobacco growers, Sher Khan said the smoking at public places and cigarette advertisements should be banned instead of imposing restriction of cultivation of tobacco.
He expressed fear that if the bill was passed by provincial assembly in haste, it would not only be detrimental for the tobacco growers, but it would also promote illegal cigarette production and trade. Similarly, he said the legislation would also inflict huge losses at provincial as well as national exchequer.
Rizwanullah termed the ban on tobacco production as economic genocide of the growers. He criticized the provincial government for its failure to form any indigenous agriculture policy, besides offering any lucrative incentives to growers to boost up agriculture sector in the province.
Muhammad Zahir refuted the perception that tobacco is main cause of cancer, but he said the drinking wine was major reason of the cancer disease. He said if the provincial government had worried about the health of people, so it should take steps for provision of clean drinking water, as people are suffered from hepatitis C due to contaminated water in the province, he added.
He said the KP is adversely suffered due to prolonged terrorism and lawlessness that consequently increased unemployment in the province. He said that growers are being attached with tobacco crop for several years, which is cash crop of the province. Therefore, he urged the government to shun anti-grower policy and not pass any unilateral bill, which would cause harmful to the tobacco growers.
While keeping in the aforementioned ground realities, the tobacco farmers urged the government to review the bill, otherwise they would compel to launch protest movement and stage ‘sit-in’ outside provincial assembly, till the acceptance of demands.