Maharashtra govt wants vendors to quit selling loose cigarettes, beedis

Mumbai - Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products (except beedis) by about 10 per cent.

The Maharashtra government has written to top cigarette companies in the country, asking them to direct the hundreds of thousands of vendors not to sell loose cigarettes and beedis.
"We have written to the cigarette companies, asking them to follow the new law, which prohibits the sale of loose cigarettes," Amitabh Gupta, an Indian Police Service officer and controller of the government's Legal Metrology Organisation, told Khaleej Times. "We are waiting for their response."
According to Gupta, cigarette vendors usually respond to the directives of the companies. It is also virtually impossible for the authorities to crack down on the vendors, hundreds of thousands of who sell cigarettes across the state.
In his budget presented on Monday, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products (except beedis) by about 10 per cent. But anti-tobacco activists say such measures are not effective in combatting consumption, especially among the young.
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, professor and surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital, told this correspondent that the widespread availability of loose cigarettes with vendors defeats the various anti-tobacco measures taken by the government. For instance, nearly two-thirds of cigarettes and beedis that are sold are in loose form.
"Loose sale encourages consumption of tobacco products especially among children," says Chaturvedi. "It also thwarts the measures of the government to reduce the demand of tobacco by raising taxes."
Though the government raises taxes on cigarettes to discourage smoking, it does not pinch the consumer buying loose cigarettes. Similarly, lack of pictorial warning on loose cigarettes means the buyer is not reminded of the harmful effects of smoking.
The amended Legal Metrology Act, which was notified last year, came into force in January, making it illegal to sell loose sticks of cigarettes. According to Chaturvedi, sale of loose cigarettes and beedis is an established marketing strategy of the tobacco industry to promote its sale.
Anti-tobacco activists had urged the state government to crackdown on the sale of loose cigarettes, but the authorities said it would be virtually impossible to do so. Hence, Gupta's letter to the cigarette companies, asking them to direct vendors not to sell loose sticks.
According to a World Health Organisation survey, nearly 15 per cent of Indian youth in the 13-15 age group consume tobacco in some form or other. More than 5,500 children and adolescents start tobacco consumption daily.
Images of victims of oral and other cancers caused by smoking, and who were under treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital patients, are to be featured in the pictorial warnings on cigarette packets. However, youngsters buying loose cigarettes do not get to see these warnings.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com

• India