PMC prohibits unlicensed trade of tobacco products

PATNA: Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has prohibited unlicensed trade, distribution and sale of tobacco-based products, thereby becoming the first municipal corporation in the country to have done so. The order will also apply on retail shops and vendors.

As per a notification issued by PMC commissioner Abhishek Singh on Thursday, no establishment, shop or vendor will henceforth be able to practice trade, distribution and sale of tobacco-based products without getting the due licence from the corporation. The tobacco-based products also include cigar, cigarette and bidi.

Any establishment, shop or vendor doing the marketing or sale of tobacco-based products illegally will not be authorised to sell other items like toffee, candy, chips, biscuits, mineral water and cold drinks.

The PMC has issued the order keeping in mind the need to protect health of people, especially children, in the backdrop of the three central government Acts - Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (prohibition of advertisement and regulations of trade, commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act, 2003, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, as well as Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

However, paragraph five of the PMC notification issued on Thursday clarified that in issuing the order, the corporation has taken into account existing clause 342 and schedule 324 in the Bihar Municipality Act, 2007, which warrants prohibition of trade, commerce, production and distribution of tobacco-based products in the area under its jurisdiction.

Further, the PMC has acted in conformity with the general advisory to chief secretaries of all the states, including chief secretary of Bihar Anjani Kumar Singh, earlier issued by Arun Kumar Jha, economic adviser in the Union ministry of health and family welfare, on September 21, this year.

Jha's advisory said. "I would be grateful if you could kindly consider developing a mechanism to provide permission/authorisation through municipal authority/local authority to the retail shops which are selling tobacco products with a condition/provision in the authorisation that the shops authorised for selling tobacco products, cannot sell any non-tobacco products such as toffees, candies, chips, biscuits and soft drinks which are essentially meant for children."