Facing criticism for his own conflict of interest as part of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on tobacco under the UPA government in 2010, former Union Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel has told NDTV that he did attend a meeting of the Group but then dissociated himself from it, because of his family's beedi business.
Mr Patel is often described as the 'beedi king' of Maharashtra. When asked whether he attended the GoM's meeting in November 2010 where it was decided to postpone new pictorial warnings, Mr Patel admitted he did attend but insisted he was not part of any decision. "When I realised the scope of GoM I was not part of it when final decision was taken, when issue of tobacco was discussed I did not give any opinion", he said.
Speaking on the current row over the Parliamentary panel, Mr Patel said no one with a conflict of interest should be on the panel.
He questioned whether a larger picture warning would really help. "Have you seen a tobacco pack with a warning? It's quite big, if you want to make (warning) 100 per cent so be it. Health warnings, education are the most important thing. If 40 per cent is not good enough then not sure about 80 per cent, the ban on smoking in public areas is prevalent. 25 years ago, I gave up smoking. It's a choice I exercised".
Last year, the Health Minister had said starting April 1, 85 percent of packaging would carry a depiction of the damage done by smoking.
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