Tobacco products destroyed

Banned items were valued at Rs.6.50 lakh

Tobacco products seized by Revenue and Food Safety departments being destroyed on the Collectorate premises in Madurai on Monday.

Banned tobacco products which include Gutkha and Paan Masala were destroyed by officials from the Revenue Department and the Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration on the District Collectorate premises here on Monday.

“In total, 10,000 packets of Gutkha and Paan masala were destroyed and they were worth Rs.6.50 lakh. They had been brought into the district from North India,” said District Revenue Officer L. Chitrarasu.

A sizable amount of the banned tobacco products which were destroyed were seized by flying squads while inspecting vehicles during the recently concluded 16th Lok Sabha Elections in the Madurai Constituency.

Officials from the Food Safety Department also said some of the products had been seized from shops in rural and urban areas which had stocked them, though they had been banned by the Tamil Nadu government.

“While we received a written undertaking from small petty shops stating that they would not stock these tobacco products in the future, complaints have been filed against big stores stocking the banned products,” said J. Suguna, Designated Officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration, Madurai District.