Retailers urge CM, PM to withdraw COPTA amendment bill

Bengaluru: The Karnataka chapter of Federation of Retailers Association of India (FRAI) have appealed to Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa to save the interests and livelihood of around two lakh micro retailers and over 10 lakh who depend on them in the State.

FRAI said that its members sustain their livelihood by selling goods of daily needs like biscuits, soft drinks, mineral water, cigarettes, bidi, pan etc., and earn about Rs 15,000 per month which is barely adequate to provide two square meals a day to their families.

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) bill 2020 proposed by the Ministry of Health, prohibits loose sale of cigarettes, tobacco products to persons below 21 years and in-shop advertising and promotion amongst others.

Speaking on the issue, Murali Krishna, FRAI member, and president, Karnataka State Small Beedi Cigarette Retailer Association, said "We humbly appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the ministry concerned to immediately rollback the proposed COTPA amendments as they are extremely harsh. By making age old trade practices like selling loose cigarettes a cognizable offence and proposing seven-year imprisonment for minor violations would make small traders look like heinous criminals. Offences like extortion and dangerous driving that could cause death attract only a two-year imprisonment whereas paan, bidi and cigarette sellers would face the harshest possible punishment for minor violations and put them in the same category as those who throw acid on someone. How can anybody be so insensitive while drafting the amendment aimed at the poor and marginalized who are struggling to earn their daily living?"

"Already India has the toughest tobacco control laws in the world which has led to degrowth in legal tobacco consumption. Current laws have only helped cigarette smugglers and anti-social elements. Then why these extra harsh tobacco control measures have become more important than other health issues like fighting deadly diseases such as coronavirus, diabetes, obesity, mental health, air pollution etc. Today, we feel victimized and targeted as a community and plead for the mercy of the PM," he added.

The retailers have requested exemption for the procurement of license under the proposed amendment. "a poor and uneducated small shopkeeper who barely manages two square meals a day, will have to struggle to get a license and wage another battle to renew it every year," he said.