Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has instructed the health department to take necessary action on Gauhati High Court’s directive to ban the sale and use of gutkha in the state.
Gogoi today said he read the report published in news papers on February 3, that the court has registered a public interest litigation (PIL) petition and issued a notice to the government to cite appropriate action taken towards banning gutkha and other smokeless tobacco products.
“I have instructed health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the health department to take necessary action to reply to the notice and do the needful to ban the use and sale of tobacco products,” the chief minister said.
The PIL was registered on Friday by a division bench of Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Arup Kumar Goswami on the basis of a letter written by the Assam chapter of Indian Dental Association.
The association’s letter to Goel on December 27 last year had expressed serious concern over the Assam government’s failure to take stern and appropriate action to ban the sale and use of gutkha and other tobacco products. The letter said if the sales of such products continue it would have serious and adverse impact on the health of people, especially the youth.
The letter also mentioned that smokeless tobacco products are highly toxic and addictive and according to Article 47 of the Constitution, it is the duty of the state to take all measures to protect the health of its citizens.
The court has fixed March 5 as the next date of hearing of the case.
Activists and organisations involved in anti-smoking and anti-tobacco programmes have welcomed the high court directive and said it is high time the government took action.
A total of 18 states — Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Delhi, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland — and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, have already banned the sale, manufacture and distribution of gutkha, khaini and pan masala.
“The ban has been imposed on the basis of a regulation issued on August 1, 2011, by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Why cannot the state government follow the same regulation?” an NGO member asked.
Gogoi today said he read the report published in news papers on February 3, that the court has registered a public interest litigation (PIL) petition and issued a notice to the government to cite appropriate action taken towards banning gutkha and other smokeless tobacco products.
“I have instructed health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the health department to take necessary action to reply to the notice and do the needful to ban the use and sale of tobacco products,” the chief minister said.
The PIL was registered on Friday by a division bench of Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Arup Kumar Goswami on the basis of a letter written by the Assam chapter of Indian Dental Association.
The association’s letter to Goel on December 27 last year had expressed serious concern over the Assam government’s failure to take stern and appropriate action to ban the sale and use of gutkha and other tobacco products. The letter said if the sales of such products continue it would have serious and adverse impact on the health of people, especially the youth.
The letter also mentioned that smokeless tobacco products are highly toxic and addictive and according to Article 47 of the Constitution, it is the duty of the state to take all measures to protect the health of its citizens.
The court has fixed March 5 as the next date of hearing of the case.
Activists and organisations involved in anti-smoking and anti-tobacco programmes have welcomed the high court directive and said it is high time the government took action.
A total of 18 states — Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Delhi, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland — and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, have already banned the sale, manufacture and distribution of gutkha, khaini and pan masala.
“The ban has been imposed on the basis of a regulation issued on August 1, 2011, by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Why cannot the state government follow the same regulation?” an NGO member asked.
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