Bengaluru: Karnataka has been thinking of a new special license to regulate the sale of cigarettes and other forms of tobacco among shopkeepers. This step is being taken to prevent children and school students from getting easy access to cigarettes.
This special license would be issued to shops by their respective urban local bodies, which will help reduce the easy availability of tobacco products near educational institutions.
Karnataka’s Minister for Urban Development and Housing, U T Khader, stated that at a recent quarterly meeting they discussed the case of tobacco products such as cigarettes, beedis and chewable variants being easily procurable near educational institutions. So they thought of a special license in addition to the trade license one should obtain to sell tobacco. He said that this would help curb the sale of such products and also in some cases ganja near educational institutions.
He said that this new licensing rule would be a part of the 20-point Karnataka Development Programme since it is not practical now for police to take action and bookcases under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).
He also said that during his tenure as the health minister of the state he tried his best to stop the sale of loose cigarettes and charge those sellers under COTPA.
Acting Chairperson of Karnataka State Child Rights Commission, Mariswamy has commented that the government should take more stringent measures towards the sale of such products. He has also commented on how the government would defend the sale of such products as they were cash crops and reducing their sales would affect the farmers very gravely
