Bengaluru: Two days after banning Gutka and Pan Masala, that contain tobacco and nicotine, the Karnataka Government has made a U-turn and is preparing to withdraw the order.
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The move followed a delegation of elected representatives from eight districts, predominantly cultivating arecanut, meeting Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and requesting him to reconsider the government decision, as the move would adversely affect the price of arecanut.
Shivakumar, who said that he was not properly briefed on the issue and took the Health Department officials to task for not properly briefing him about the issue before it was brought to the cabinet. He also directed the Health Department officials to withdraw the notification issued on Aug 12, after the cabinet approved the earlier notification.
Following health concerns over Gutka, the Karnataka Health Department had prepared a notification to ban Gutka and Pan Masala containing tobacco and nicotine. After the earlier ban of Pan Masala containing tobacco and nicotine, the manufacturers started selling pan masala and the tobacco mix separately, leaving the mixing to the consumers. Following the new complaints, the Health Department had prepared a notification to ban Gutka and Pan Masala as whole, not allowing the tobacco and nicotine mix to be sold separately. The notification was placed before the cabinet on Thursday and the cabinet gave consent to the notification, which ordered a ban on Gutka sale for one year.
This created a knee jerk reaction in the rural areas, where the Gutka addicts started hoarding Gutka. In places like Koppal, people purchased Gutka and Masala Mix, which contains tobacco, stashed them into gunny bags and took them home. This created a severe shortage of Gutka and the ₹25 per packet Gutka started selling for ₹ 100.
Meanwhile, the MLAs and MLCs representing arecanut growing areas called upon Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and requested him to withdraw the order, as the ban would adversely affect the price of arecanut. Shivakumar summoned the Health Department officials, reprimanded them and asked them to revoke the ban.
