SRINAGAR: Authorities have imposed a ban on sale of Gutkha and Pan Masala (chewing tobacco) in Jammu and Kashmir state. The High Court had last month issued directions for the same last month.
An official spokesman said the Commissioner of Food Safety, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi ordered ban on manufacture, storage, sale transportation, display or distribution of Gutkha in the state.
“As per the notification number HD/Drug/58/2012 issued today the Commissioner of Food has prohibited distribution of Gutkha by whatever name and Pan Masala or Zarda containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients by any name,” he said.
Gutkha of any type contains tobacco or nicotine as major ingredient so it is practical to impose ban on its manufacturing, storage, sale, transportation or distribution in the state, the spokesman quoted Dwivedi as having said.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had directed the government to take necessary steps for banning gutkha, pan masala and other tobacco products in the state after hearing a PIL filed by Sajjad Gilani on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir Voluntary Health and Development Association.
This order has been issued after the ban was declared in the Budget, which was presented in the assembly today “in the interest of health care of the citizens of J&K State.”
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