In what is being seen as an attempt to expose the conspiracy of his health minister to give relief to the non-smoking tobacco producing companies by trying to bring in a separate bill, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Saturday said that he instructed ban on non-smoking tobacco under the provisions of a Central act.
Clarifying the charges of his health minister who recently tried to put blame on chief minister for delaying a separate bill of the state banning non-smoking tobacco in the state, Mr Gogoi told reporters, “You have asked so I want to put the facts straight. It was Union health ministry which in August had advised state health department to ban non-smoking tobacco through a formal letter to Assam chief secretary and health department.” Admitting that the letter did not come to his notice, Mr Gogoi said, “In December, DoNER minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar wrote a letter to me asking ban on non-smoking tobacco. Soon after receiving the letter, I instructed the health department to ban it but it was delayed.”
In an obvious reference to his health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who wanted to ban non-smoking tobacco through a separate bill instead of adopting the Central act, Mr Gogoi said, “I have examined both the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restricti-ons on Sales) Regulations, 2011 dated 1st August 2011, issued under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the separate bill proposed by the health minister.”
Refusing to indulge in any blame game, he said that there was no need of any separate bill to ban non-smoking tobacco in the state.