The Maharashtra government is seeking a ban on gutka in the state under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction of Sales) Act, 2011. The Madhya Pradesh government on April 1 banned manufacture and sale of gutka in their state.
“We have already sent the recommendation to the legal department a month ago. We are waiting for their reply to go ahead and ban gutka,” said said Jayant Kumar Banthia, additional chief secretary, public health and family welfare on Wednesday.
Earlier, in 2003, the Maharashtra government had banned gutka for using harmful substances such as magnesium carbonate as under the Prevention of Adulterated Food Act. However, the Supreme Court lifted the ban in 2004 on the ground that state governments do not have the power to impose such bans. The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) replaced the earlier Act in August 2011.
These issues were discussed in the Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday. For the first time time, anti-tobacco activists, including Salaam Bombay Trust and representatives of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), addressed MLAs at Vidhan Bhavan about the increasing cancer mortality in the country, the need for increasing taxation on tobacco and need for increasing the pictorial warnings on tobacco packets.
“About 10 lakh people die of cancer caused by tobacco consumption in the country. They lose 10-20 years of their lives. Please increase taxation on tobacco products to deter people from smoking. It is proven that when the tax on tobacco is tripled, the revenue in the state is doubled, and the lives of people are saved,” said Dr Rajendra Badwe, medical director, TMH. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also attended the programme. The government, last week decided to roll back the 12.5 per cent value-added tax on beedi, but the cabinet has not yet approved it. “I will do my best to prevent a rollback on the bidi tax,” said Satej Patel, minister of Food and Drug Administration who attended the sensitisation programme.
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