Nayagarh police seize gutka worth Rs 1 crore amid tobacco ban enforcement

Bhubaneswar: Weeks after the state govt imposed a ban on tobacco or nicotine-laced products, Nayagarh police have launched a massive crackdown, seizing gutka worth around Rs 1 crore in the last four days.

Five men have been arrested for violating the new rules, introduced in response to a surge in oral cancer cases linked to chewable tobacco products such as zarda, khaini and gutka.


“As part of our special enforcement drive, we raided godowns where massive stocks of banned gutka, khaini and zarda — worth around Rs 1 crore — were concealed. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003,” said SP of Nayagarh, S Susree.

Following a Supreme Court directive to all states, the Odisha govt on Jan 21 notified stringent new regulations prohibiting the manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, and sale of all products containing tobacco or nicotine.

The ban extends to both chewable and non-chewable items that are flavoured, scented, or mixed with additives, regardless of how they are marketed. This includes gutka, pan masala and other flavoured or scented chewable products — whether packaged or unpackaged. It also covers products sold individually or in separate packets meant to be mixed by consumers, as well as any food items containing tobacco or nicotine under any name.

Officials flagged grave health concerns, particularly the risks posed to children and young adults from smokeless tobacco often consumed with pan masala, betel leaf, areca nut and slaked lime.

Citing the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under WHO, the notification stressed that chewable tobacco products — including zarda, khaini, gutka, and processed or flavoured tobacco — are classified as carcinogenic.