BOMBAY, 19 July — The state government of Maharashtra has banned the manufacturing, advertising, storage and sale of treated and flavored tobacco (gutka) and pan masala, effective Aug. 1. Punitive measures in form of fine and imprisonment, details of which are being worked out, will be imposed on offenders, who break the ban. The ban is for five years.
The decision to ban gutka and pan masala was taken at a Cabinet meeting after reviewing a survey conducted by Indian Dental Association in 1997 which reported that between 10 to 40 percent students (80 percent college students in Bombay) chew the flavored tobacco (gutka and pan masala), and such an addiction is dangerous and leads to cancer, stated the state chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh.
One of the person affected by chewing gutka was the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who had to undergo dental surgery recently at the Beach Candy hospital in Bombay.
Deshmukh added that inspections carried out by the Food and Drugs administration found that the flavored tobacco contained chemicals like magnesium carbonate, calcium carbonate and phosphate, considered harmful to human beings.
The Minister for Food and Drugs Administration Anil Deshmukh said that the state government had written several times to the federal government to impose a ban on gutka and pan masala, but the for unknown reasons, the center dithered. With no response coming from the center, the state government decided to impose the ban, following similar action taken by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh governments, he said. The ban will affect nearly 40 gutka manufacturing companies and the government will lose about Rs. 40 crores in revenue.
Dr. Kalyan Gangwal, an anti-gutka activist, welcomed the government’s decision saying, "Though late, it is welcome." But the chairman of the Manikchand Group, Rasiklal Dhariwal called the decision (the ban) "unfair". The group is one of the leaders in manufacturing gutka.
