Gutkha, pan Masala banned in Delhi

The Delhi government has banned all chewing tobacco products, including pan masala, gutkha, flavoured and scented tobacco and kharra, here for a year, an official said on Friday.

The Department of Food Safety issued a notification declaring that manufacture and sale of gutkha, pan masala, zarda and khaini packed or unpacked are prohibited for a year as these products damage public health.

The ban came into effect from Wednesday.

"The said food products, if consumed, endanger human health," the government said in its notification, adding that consumption will adversely effect the life of future generations.

The government said that all such forms of chewing tobacco, whether packaged or unpackaged, sold as one product, or through packaged separate products that could be mixed by consumers, come under the ambit of the ban.