BHUBANESWAR : The Odisha government on Wednesday completely banned manufacturing and sale of gutkha and similar products containing tobacco and/or nicotine across the state.
According to a notification issued by the Health and Family Welfare department, the government has explicitly prohibited the manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of gutkha and any product containing tobacco or nicotine as an ingredient.
Although the state had banned the sale of tobacco products in 2013, the modified order aims to remove ambiguities that existed in earlier notifications and ensure uniform enforcement across Odisha.
Health secretary Aswathy S in the notification said, the Supreme Court had directed the secretaries of Health departments of all states to ensure total compliance of the ban imposed on manufacturing and sale of gutkha and pan masala.
Both packaged and unpackaged tobacco and nicotine products have been banned. The prohibition is applicable to products sold separately but distributed in such a manner that facilitates mixing by consumers, a practice often used to bypass earlier restrictions.
The prohibition is also applicable to all food products chewable or otherwise whether flavoured, scented, mixed or combined with additives. It covers products sold under any name or form, including gutkha, pan masala and other chewable or flavoured food items.