Gups in Lhuentse and the Dzongkhag Rabdhey submitted appeal letters to the district administration to stop the distribution of tobacco products in the district. The government recently decided to allow Bhutan Duty-Free Limited to supply tobacco products in response to the increasing cases of illegal trade of tobacco products along the border and curb the illegal movement of people across borders in light of the pandemic. And during the lockdown, the products were made available at the doorstep of consumers.
The gups reasoned that tobacco products are injurious to health and its consumption is against Buddhist principles. The distribution is also a breach of the Tobacco Control Act.
“There might be some tobacco consumers in Lhuentse Dzongkhag. But unlike other dzongkhag and town areas, we don’t have many people who cannot stay and cannot work without consuming the products,” said Kinzang Minjur, the Gup of Jarey Gewog.
“We haven’t seen many tobacco consumers in the Dzongkhag. Moreover, Lhuentse Dzongkhag is also the birthplace of Wangchuck dynasty and His Holiness the Je Khenpo, and many important occasions also start from our Dzongkhag,” said Sithar Tshering, the Khoma Gup.
“We could not contact the tobacco consumers due to lockdown and lack of time. However, since our country is a spiritual nation and Lhuentse Dzongkhag is a historic place, all the Gups submitted a petition letter to the dzongkhag administration to stop distributing the tobacco products,” added Tsheten Wangdi, the Tsaenkhar Gup.
The representative of Phaling town also supported the move.
“I feel people were not left to starve. Upon the command of His Majesty The King we have been delivering starting from a bunch of vegetables to the doorstep. So it would be better to stop the distribution of tobacco products because people won’t die without consuming tobacco,” said Sonam Wangdi, the Thromde Representative of Phaling Town in Lhuentse .
On the other hand, the appeals did not go down well with tobacco consumers in Lhuentse.
Voice of a Phaling town resident, Lhuentse (DZO)
“There are many people who smoke and chew tobacco products. So I feel it would be convenient if we allow the government to distribute tobacco products by imposing higher taxes. For consumers, he will be willing to pay even Nu 500 to buy a packet of chewing tobacco. So, even if there is a restriction on tobacco distribution, there will be black markets dealing with such products,” said a resident of Phaling town.
“I and my wife both chew baba. So a packet of baba will last only for one day. Even if we don’t get the chewing tobacco distributed by the government, people get it from anywhere. Since I haven’t received the tobacco products distributed by the government, I buy from the market by paying Nu 150 to 200. I think it would be better to allow the government to distribute the tobacco products because otherwise, people will buy it from the black markets,” said another from Phaling.
Lhuentse Dzongda Jambay Wangchuk said the district’s COVID-19 taskforce will meet soon to decide on the issue. And for now, the district administration will not supply tobacco products to its gewogs.
Since the lockdown was imposed, 200 packets of cigarettes, 127 packets of chewing tobacco, and 200 packets of bidis were supplied to consumers in the district.
Sonam Tshering
