A strange as it may sound, In West Bengal the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is losing money in state funds because of his smoking habit. If it weren't for his passion for puffing he would be getting millions of dollars in international funds to help anti-smoking campaigns.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) said, "I myself formulated two applications on behalf of Kolkata to fund the city to curb tobacco consumption and make it a smoke-free zone. But both were rejected by the Bloomberg Initiative as the administrative head himself smokes in public."
Over the past six months the state's capital, Kolkata has applied for grants to control tobacco consumption several times, with the Bloomberg Initiative – a programme in the global community aimed at curbing tobacco use in countries that have low income.
The strangest twist of fate is that in this part of India is that nearly 70 percent of males consume tobacco, which is an extremely high rate.
West Bengal seems like a place that would really needs the funds and just because one leader is smoking does not really seem like a reason to refuse funding.
[Via: The Times of India]
