According to a new draft policy, the government would use the Health Development surcharge, collected from the sale of tobacco products, to curb tobacco use for a smoking-free country by 2040.

Currently, the Health Development surcharge is 1 percent. 

In line with the government's vision of a smoking-free nation by 2040, the cabinet yesterday approved the draft, titled "The Health Development Surcharge Management Policy-2017", said Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam.

The objective of the policy is to curtail the use of tobacco by raising public awareness on the adverse effects of tobacco on human health, he also said while briefing journalists at the Secretariat following the weekly meeting of the cabinet.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at her office.

Nearly Tk 300 crore is being deposited annually into the coffers of health ministry under the Health Development surcharge, but the money has been sitting idle as there was no policy as to how to make use of the money, Secretary Shafiul said.

Once the policy is in force, the accrued funds will be used for controlling tobacco use and farming, preventing non-communicable diseases, building anti-tobacco awareness and creating alternative employment opportunities for affected tobacco farmers, he said.   

Several specific suggestions have been incorporated into the new policy that will be considered as a guideline to the existing tobacco control law, Shafiul added.

The cabinet during the meeting also approved the draft of "The National Academy for Planning and Development Law, 2017" -- a Bangla translation of the original law of 1979.