Ban on gutkha pouch

Sellers violate Gujarat government’s ban on selling gutkha within 100-m radius of schools

The Supreme Court has banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic pouches. The ban will come into effect next March. Environmentalists and health experts hailed the decision, following growing concerns about the impact of tobacco on public health. The small pouches not only pack a deadly carcinogenic punch, but are also responsible for the city’s defacement.

Gujarat Cancer Research Institute director Pankaj Shah said, “Gutkha is a deadly health hazard. The Supreme Court should ban it completely. Even schoolchildren are consuming this poison. We get cases where 20-year-olds suffer from cancer of the mouth and neck due to this. Sellers also violate Gujarat government’s ban on selling gutkha within 100-m radius of schools.”

92 gutkha brands
Retired food inspector Tushar Bhatt said, “Ninety-two brands of gutkha are available in the state and 70 lakh Gujaratis consume gutkha at an average of 10 gutkha pouches per person.” “The turnover of gutkha in the state is a staggering Rs 2,500 crore annually. Moreover, duplicate packing of all brands across the country are manufactured in Gujarat,” he claimed.

Environment department director J K Vyas said, “The packaging material for gutkha has 70 per cent plastic and 30 per cent metal foil.” Thousands of processing units could be forced to close as a result of the ban.

Environmental hazard

Welcoming the apex court’s decision, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti Chairperson Rohit Prajapati said, “The SC did what the states should have done. But SC has its limitations. The state government has never shown any seriousness in this direction.”

Empty gutkha pouches dirty city streets. “It is non-biodegradable waste that pollutes the environment. The amount of gutkha packets we recovered during the Ahmedabad Mirror Cleanliness Campaign is almost impossible to dispose of. Amdavadis are educated, motivated and patriotic in nature. Therefore, the social acceptance of eating gutkha and littering the packets baffles me,” said Aditi Vyas, a cleanliness volunteer.

Sheena Varghese, another volunteer, said, “One way of keeping these wrappers off the streets would be to hold the manufacturers responsible in some way. If they reap profit from cheap packaging, they should also pay for clearing up the mess. A plastic packaging tax could be levied to pay for cleaning projects and implementing recycling schemes. They can also be sent to jail.”

Conduct survey
Food and Drugs Commissioner Hemant Koshiya said, “We will conduct a survey on the material used in packing gutkha and its disposal. We will call a meeting of gutkha manufacturers in Gujarat and suggest an alternative for packaging. We will also frame rules to take action against manufacturers who violate plastic packaging ban and seize their products. If the gutkha is from outside the state we will seize the stock.”

GPCB in charge

Secretary (Forests and Environment) S K Nanda said the Gujarat Pollution Control Board will implement the ban in the state. “We will issue strict instructions to manufacturers and dealers. We will frame rules to ensure that the ban is strictly implemented. The gutkha should be packaged only in tin or paper packs.”

He added, “During a clean-up operation in Girnar forest following tourist season, we collected 1,000 tonnes of plastic — most of them gutkha pouches.”

It is estimated that more than 240 million Indians use some form of cheap and addictive tobacco — which is linked to more than a million deaths every year. 


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