SWABI, Sept 7: The Tehsil Council Swabi and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Haqiqi) in their separate meetings have demanded of the provincial government to hand over Rs135 million tobacco cess to district and tehsil councils.

Debating the tobacco cess here on Friday, the tehsil council members opposed distribution of the fund among provincial assembly members.

At a meeting held at Maddressah Mufti Arshad here on Friday, JUI (H) chief Maulana Khalil Ahmad urged the MMA government to transfer the cess fund to local governments.

JUI (H) general-secretary Najeem Khan said that the philosophy behind the tobacco cess was that it should be utilised in the tobacco growing regions for the welfare of farmers.

He said that the provincial government had been collecting the tobacco cess from tobacco growers since 1991. But, he added, the fund had not been released.

In a tobacco conference held here last month, Swabi Qaumi Mahaz chairman Dr Mohammad Salim said that the tobacco cess should be spend on the construction of dilapidated roads of the district.