STAFF REPORTER
Guwahati: The ban on sale, manufacture, storage, distribution, and transportation of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine has apparently turned into a big joke in the country, including Assam.
For, the manufacturers and traders have found an ingenious way to bypass the prohibition - instead of selling as a single product, they have separated its ingredients and sell tobacco and pan masala in separate twin packs.
Consumers now mix them manually after purchase, thereby nullifying the very purpose of the ban.
Prior to the ban, tobacco, areca nut, nicotine and other ingredients were mixed with different flavours and sold as gutka.
Post the ban, companies have removed areca nut from the pack, selling it as a flavoured pan masala, while tobacco containing nicotine is sold in a separate sachet.
But when customers buy the two packets and mix them, the end product becomes a gutka, thus defeating the very essence of the ban.
The gravity of the fact can be gauged from the fact that the twin sachets of different brands are available in every nook and cranny of India, including Assam.
Though shopkeepers now don't display them openly, the twin sachet packets are nevertheless still sold in huge numbers.
Manufacturers too have found clever ways to sell their products. For instance, some brands use surrogate marketing to trade their products - passing off pan masala as mouth fresheners to maintain market presence without explicitly promoting banned tobacco.
Meanwhile, the sale of gutka under a different avatar is taking a huge toll on public health in Assam.
Reports state that young people have been the worst affected, with 35% of the consumers being teenagers.
Surveys have also revealed that 43% of oral cancer patients in the state are gutka consumers.
Health experts have warned of serious health consequences if large-scale consumption of gutka continues. The ailments include oral cancer, oral submucos fibrosis, systematic and organ toxicity, oxidative damage, pregnancy complications, etc
Though primarily it is the Health & Family Welfare Department's responsibility to implement the ban, health experts have lamented that the department has been ineffective in this regard.
The failure of the health authorities to implement the gutka ban can be gauged from the fact that the harmful substances are even sold openly near schools, thereby affecting young people.
Meanwhile, when contacted, health officials have cited existence of thousands of pan shops in Guwahati alone, which they say makes it humanly impossible to crack down on each one of them.
They also cited technical difficulty in enforcing the ban, explaining that since the two products are diferent and could be sold, it is ultimately the customers' choice whether to consume them.
Further, they pointed out that if manufacturing units, warehosues, distributors, etc, can't be controlled, it is impossible to clamp down on retailers.
Batting for a pan-India policy to stamp out the evil, they cautioned that if the Government of India doesn't do so, manufacturing and sale of gutka will continue under different avatars.
Realising the gravity of the situation, the Supreme Court had recently asked the Centre to explain what steps it will take to stop the sale of twin packs.
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