Amaravati: Addicts get a kick out of locally made gutkas

Amaravati: With the government strictly enforcing the lockdown in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the people addicted to non-smoking tobacco products are directly consuming tobacco and gutka, made by the local pan shops.

Though the police have been enforcing strict lockdown rules by registering cases and imposing heavy penalties on the violators, the illegal sale of tobacco products is going on unabated in urban areas like Guntur, Vijayawada, Nellore.

B Ramana, a pan shop owner in Guntur city, said that after the lockdown was imposed, they sold tobacco products like Chaini, Khaini, RMD, Manikchand, Vimal and other packaged products in black market at higher prices. But the stocks exhausted soon leaving the addicted in a state of shock.

To meet the demand of the addicted persons, many small shop owners and wholesalers started manufacturing tobacco-laden gutkas and pan masalas on their own to sell in black market and earn a windfall. Ramana said the with no option left, the addicted consumers started purchasing the locally made gutka and pan masala made using different flavours of tobacco and betel nut.

Another merchant, Bhaskar, said that police officials were imposing heavy fines on the illegal sale of tobacco products. On the other hand, the state government has banned chewing and spitting of the tobacco products, in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.