Protest against closure of gutka packaging units

KANPUR: People engaged in the city's Rs 400-crore tobacco industry today went on a day long strike, protesting the Supreme Court ban on sale of tobacco, gutka and pan masala in plastic pouches from this month.

"Kirana shops in Kanpur remained closed as merchants observed a day strike...the businessmen trading in active ingredients of gutka like supari, cardamom, pepper mint held a procession," Kanpur Kirana Merchant Association President Rakesh Kumar Agarwal told PTI Bhasha.

On February 17, the apex court banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic sachets after considering the report that 90 per cent of oral cancer cases in India are due to chewing tobacco and gutka.

The order has led to closure of some gutka packaging units resulting in unemployment and dip in sales for the industries dealing in tobacco ingredients.

Kanpur has around 70-80 plastic packaging units directly employing over 15,000 labourers.

Agarwal said several kirana shops get their earnings from pan masala traders by supplying them its ingredients. "When there will be no production of gutka in units then who is going to buy our stocks?".

Kanpur is a major centre of pan masala and gutka production. Besides gutka units, it is a hub of brands like Pan Parag.

Kanpur Kirana Merchant Association has a membership of around 511 merchants.

Agarwal said over Rs 500 crore worth stocks were lying with the kirana merchants to be supplied to gutka production units.

He further said the implementation of the Court's ban will render around 50,000 workers jobless besides tax losses to the government.

On alternative ways of packing gutka, he said their are provisions of packaging gutka in paper and aluminium foils but it will increase the production cost by 40 per cent as they have to deploy new equipment for it.