A county in central China have told officials to smoke about a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually. Those departments failing to puff their cigarette consumption targets will be fined.
The Gong’an county government in the Hubei province ordered its staff to smoke around 230,000 packs per year of cigarette brands produced in the province. The regulation is aimed to boost the local economy via the cigarette tax.
The Global Times reports that this measure could be a tactic to help Hubei cigarette brands such as Huanghelo, which are under strain from competitors in the Hunan province.
China has a big number of smokers about 350 million and from this number, about a million a year die of smoking related diseases.
LATEST: The puff or else order was repealed due to public outrage. Ever since the order made headlines around the world, it has triggered massive criticism that it was a outrageous waste of government money. Under public pressure, the county government backed down and has announced on its website that the order is now pending review…
Check out the map for Hubei Province, China..
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