SMC seals 170 paan shops in Varachha

SURAT: As many as 170 paan shops selling 'mava'- a combination of tobacoo, supari (betelnut) and lime -and other tobacco products in the diamond hub of Varachha were sealed by Surat Municipal Corporation's (SMC) health department in the past two days to curb the use of plastic. Official sources said the paan shops in Varachha have been using banned plastic material to pack mava and other paan from the past many years.The plastic material strewn on the roadside gets accumulated in the drainage lines and chokes up the storm drainage during the monsoon season creating problems like overflowing drains.
The health department has started an operation against the paan shops selling the banned plastic material from the past two days and that the drive is likely to continue. "The areas like Katargam, Varachha, Mota Varachha, Dabholi, Ved Road and Ashwani Kumar Road are having sizeable population of Saurashtrian Patel, who are associated with the diamond industry. The trend of chewing mava is prevalent in these areas from the last many years and this has led to the significant increase in the number of paan shops in these areas. The hot selling tobacco product is mava, which is packed in the banned plastic material," said a health officer.