In a landmark decision, the Nitish Kumar government has
imposed a ban on the manufacture, sale, distribution and storage of gutka and
and all its varients for a period of one year in Bihar. The ban has been put in place with immediate effect. A notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday by the
health department. As per an order issued by the commissioner of food
safety-cum-secretary, health, the manufacture, sale, distribution and storage
of all the gutka and paan masala containing tobacco and nicotine would be
banned in the state for the next one year under the Food Safety and Standards
(Regulation) Act 2011 "in the public interest". Bihar is the third state in
the country after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh to have imposed a ban on the sale
of gutkha. The health department has asked all the district
magistrates, superintendents of police and civil surgeons to enforce the ban in
the areas under their jurisdiction. The order said that the commissioner of food safety was
empowered under Section 30 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 to issue
the ban order in this regard. The government decision to enforce the ban was
welcomed by the people in general.
Shamael Ahmad, president of the Bihar Public School Welfare
Association, said that a large number of schoolchildren and college students
were getting addicted to gutkha because of its rampant sale near academic
institutions. "The ban would save them from the menace," he said. Social activist G M Tripathi said that the ban needed to be
strictly enforced to prevent its sale in the state.
Source:http://indiatoday.intoday.in
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