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Parkash Singh Badal Orders Ban On Guthka Manufacturing In Punjab

Punjab Govt Bans Manufacturing Of Guthka, Pan Masala In The State
FILE - In this March 3, 2007 file photo, Parkash Singh Badal, chief minister of the Indian state of Punjab, pays obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. Badal is expected to visit Wisconsin for a July 6, 2013, wedding and a Sikh group accusing him of human-rights violations has doubled its reward to $20,000 to anyone who serves him with a federal summons while heâs here. (AP Photo/Deepak Sharma, File)
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FILE - In this March 3, 2007 file photo, Parkash Singh Badal, chief minister of the Indian state of Punjab, pays obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. Badal is expected to visit Wisconsin for a July 6, 2013, wedding and a Sikh group accusing him of human-rights violations has doubled its reward to $20,000 to anyone who serves him with a federal summons while heâs here. (AP Photo/Deepak Sharma, File)

NEW DELHI -- In the public interest, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today ordered to ban the manufacturing of Guthka, Pan Masala, Processed/flavored/scented chewing tobacco and any other food products containing tobacco in the state with immediate effect.

Prior to this, the state government had issued a notification dated 1 January, 2016 banning the storage, sale or distribution of Gutkha, Pan Masala, processed/flavored/scented chewing tobacco and any other food products containing tobacco or nicotine as ingredients by whatever name these are called as final products available in the market and has been prohibited for one year in the whole of the State of Punjab.

However, in view of public health, Badal has now asked the Health department to take immediate steps to ensure complete ban on the manufacturing of Guthka, Pan Masala, processed/flavored/scented chewing tobacco and any other food products containing tobacco in the state, in addition to the above said notification.

The Chief Minister directed the Health Department for strict compliance of these orders and added that no laxity on the part of any erring officer/official in its implementation would be tolerated at any cost.

The State government said the ban had been issued as the sale is in violation of Section 7 of the COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products, Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act, 2003).

Section 7 of COTPA prohibits any trade or commerce in cigarettes or any other tobacco products unless every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco products sold, supplied or distributed carries specified warning including pictorial warning.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.