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Maharashtra yet to go ahead with tobacco & tobacco products’ total ban
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Thursday, 21 August, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Abhitash Singh, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d Maharashtra is yet to take up the initiative of banning all forms of tobacco and tobacco products in the state. This information was given to FnB News by a senior official from Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Maharashtra on Tuesday.
The initiative was expected to be taken up in the state, in response to the letters written by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to chief ministers of all the states in the country to effect the ban. The ban has been sought under the Regulation 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011.
Suresh Annapure, joint commissioner, Greater Mumbai FDA, explained, “Dr Vardhan sent a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan but the state has not decided any course of action to ban tobacco.”
He added, “FDA will not initiate action until it gets the go-ahead from the state government to take action against tobacco manufacturers. We will initiate action only after we get any notice from the state government.”
However, another official from FDA, on the condition of anonymity, revealed, “I don’t think that the initiative will start before the state assembly elections. Soon there will be code of conduct in the state and the notification to ban tobacco will be on hold for some time. The initiative will start only after the results for state assembly elections are declared.”
He further stated, “Even though Maharashtra was the first and also the only state to effectively ban gutkha in the country it will take some time for the state to initiate tobacco ban.”
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