Gutkha ban spurs cigarette sales?

BAN CHEW

No gutkha here but you will get paan from day after, says Dilip Jain, who has his small shop behind Han­u­m­an Mandir in Connaught Place.

He and many others who have set up small cubicles across Delhi are affected by the ban on gutkha in Delhi. A week after the Government banned it in Delhi, the scena­r­io is still shaky.

While people from different spheres, including health activists, students, auto drivers and cigarette vendors believe that the ban would help save lives by preventing cancer, the industry experts feel that it is an open invite to spur cigarette sales. Metrolife delves into the issue of smokeless tobacco.

Dilip, who has had this shop for the last 50 years says that if gutka is banned then people will start eating paan. “Gutkha became popular over paan because it was dry and handy. People bought a small sachet which could be consumed whenever they had a craving.

So they saved on time and since it is dry tongues don’t end up turning red,” says Dilip, who claims to have sold 100 packets of gutkha on an average, in a day! He admits people who are addicted to it are still trying to satiate their cravings and are temporarily buying paan.

On the face of it, some regular consumers seem okay with the ban. “I have been consuming gutka for the last six years. But now that it is not available, I have given up eating it,” says Manoj Kumar Yadav, an autorikshaw driver, chewing a paan.

He adds, “If I have to leave it 10 days later, why not leave it now. Besides, it is not that it isn't available. If anyone does want to buy gutkha then there are places, where it is still available because those who had stocked it are charging double the rate now.” Kapashera border is one such area he reluctantly reveals. 

While Manoj has given up the habit now, the consequences of the ban might not be the same overall. Some have taken refuge to consuming pan masala while experts are saying that it will increase cigarette sales.

Sanjay Dechan, executive director of Smokeless Federation of India, an umbrella group of pan masala makers quotes from a book brought out by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, “If gutkha is banned then due to nicotine craving users will shift to cigarette.”

He adds that a leading name in the industry has recently launched a 64mm cigarette and government has reduced taxes on it. “The last quarter sales of ITC show an increase of 16 per cent in cigarette sales which is evident that gutkha users will shift to cigarette since pan masala cannot satiate their craving and paan is costlier.

If a paan costs Rs 10, a khaini pouch costs Rs 5 and a stick of cigarette costs Rs 2. So it is easy for a Rs 1 gutkha buyer to shift to Rs 2 than to Rs 10,” he explains.

So has it turned out that in order to reduce one menace, the government has in its wisdom encouraged another?