Govt of J&K joins anti tobacco bandwagon, may ban gutka soon

The J&K government is planning to set up a high level monitor committee to track the progress of anti-tobacco initiatives in the state. State health minister Sham Lal Sharma has sought strong measures to decrease the consumption of cigarettes, gutka and other tobacco products.

"The Government is contemplating to constitute a monitoring Committee under the chairmanship of chief minister Omar Abdullah. The committee would monitor the results of the steps initiated to curb the menace of tobacco and other allied products," he said while interacting with representatives of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) on Thursday evening.

He also said that society needs to support the government on the issue to get rid of the tobacco menace. He also urged social and religious organisations to use their influence to make people aware about the ill-effects of tobacco and other drugs.

On the issue of banning gutka in the state, the minister said he has already passed specific instructions to the authorities concerned and the matter is under active consideration of the government. He said the government will bring a legislation to ban gutka in the state in the near future.

Various other states have already banned gutka, but there seems to very less initiative against cigarettes. One of the reasons for this is that the gutka industry is not as big or well-organised as the tobacco one. The latest measure to fight the tobacco menace was to introduce plain packaging.

While tobacco consumption has been reduced in developed countries, it's still very high in countries like India and China.