Drive against gutkha sale intensified

PUNE: The Pune office of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to intensify its drive against illegal sale of gutkha. Despite a ban on sale, manufacture, display and stocking of gutkha in the state, cases of shops selling the product are being reported regularly.
The Pune FDA office recently raided the Sai paan shop at Subhash chowk in Baramati and seized 111 sachets of gutkha.A statement released by Mohan Kembalkar, food inspector, said the FDA office received a tip-off about gutkha being sold in Baramati.
A team from the Pune FDA office visited the spot and sent a decoy customer with a Rs 10 note to the shop. The shopkeeper sold him a sachet of Manikchand gutkha for Rs 7, Kembalkar said. The FDA team found 111 sachets of gutkha. As the panchnama was in progress, the shopkeeper, Ashok Bahirmal, fled with the sachets, but was later arrested.
In another incident, the health department of the Pune municipal corporation raided the Sumitra paan shop at Kothrud here and seized 90 sachets of Manikchand gutkha. Assistant health officer D.D. Chandakkar, food inspectors Arun Khilari and Mahendra Jagtap conducted the raid and filed a case against the shop owner, Ravi Shetty.
Sale of gutkha was also reported in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area. K. Nagkumar, chief medical health officer in Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation, said in the past two months, the health department nabbed 10 sub distributors for selling gutkha.