No smoking at restaurants

DHAKA: In the latest bid to ensure fresh environment, all restaurants were declared ‘smoke-free zone’ on Saturday.

Bangladesh Restaurant Owners’ Association president Komor Uddin Ahmed came up with announcement at a press conference held at National Press Club on Saturday.

A number of 55,000 restaurants will be turned as smoke free zones by the declaration.

The president said, “I announce all restaurants are smoke free from Saturday. I want cooperation of journalists, public, restaurant owners-stuffs and administration in this regard.”

“We merged ourselves in the line of Bangladesh anti-smoking movement as we want to work for the country,” he added.

Bangladesh anti-smoking movement president Jahid Iqbal told banglanews, “I am happy with the declaration and we welcome them. But the implementation is the main challenge.”

In a seminar held at city’s National Press Club, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Faruk Khan categorically said the hotels and restaurants of the country will be declared as no smoking public place by one month through publishing a circular.

A proposal will be placed in proposed budget to increase the rate of tax on tobacco for discouraging smoking, he added.

Faruk Khan said, “The government prohibited smoking in public places as we support anti-tobacco movement and a proposal to increase tax on tobacco will be placed too.”



BDST: 1723 HRS, JUNE 09, 2012

Edited by:
Kaiser Ahmed, Newsroom Editor
Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor