Coimbatore: Commending the efforts of the city police for gearing up efforts to annihilate banned tobacco sale in the city, the City Police Commissioner, Sumit Saran on Wednesday awarded the police personnel with certificates.
Coimbatore: Commending the efforts of the city police for gearing up efforts to annihilate banned tobacco sale in the city, the City Police Commissioner, Sumit Saran on Wednesday awarded the police personnel with certificates.
Tobacco use is a major health and social problem worldwide. Several million people lose their lives to banned tobacco products. Especially, due to lack of awareness and peer pressure, students easily fall prey to tobacco.
In 2013, Tamil Nadu government banned production, possession, distribution and sale of tobacco products such as pan masala and gutka in the state. While, the State has been ranked second in the country for enforcing the Cigarettes and other tobacco products act 2003 (COTPA) which prohibits sale of cigarettes or any tobacco products to minors and nearby educational institutions, however the recent spike in movement of tobacco products like gukta and pan masala in the city has alarmed the city police.
Since then stringent measures were taken by the city police to nab the offenders involved in transporting gukta products from one point to another. Upon orders from Police Commissioner, Sumit Sharan and under the direct supervision of Deputy Commissioner (Law & Order), L. Balaji Saravanan a special team was formed to conduct raids near educational institutions.
So far, more than 30 cases have been registered during these raids conducted in the past month and gutka products worth Rs.1 crore have been seized.
In a bid to motivate the police personnel involved in busting the gutka network, the Police Commissioner expressed his appreciation and awarded certificates to the members of the special team.
DC (L&O) Balaji Saravanan, DC (Crime) Uma, DC (Traffic) Mutharasu, DC (HQ) Selvakumar were present.
Tobacco use is a major health and social problem worldwide. Several million people lose their lives to banned tobacco products. Especially, due to lack of awareness and peer pressure, students easily fall prey to tobacco.
In 2013, Tamil Nadu government banned production, possession, distribution and sale of tobacco products such as pan masala and gutka in the state. While, the State has been ranked second in the country for enforcing the Cigarettes and other tobacco products act 2003 (COTPA) which prohibits sale of cigarettes or any tobacco products to minors and nearby educational institutions, however the recent spike in movement of tobacco products like gukta and pan masala in the city has alarmed the city police.
Since then stringent measures were taken by the city police to nab the offenders involved in transporting gukta products from one point to another. Upon orders from Police Commissioner, Sumit Sharan and under the direct supervision of Deputy Commissioner (Law & Order), L. Balaji Saravanan a special team was formed to conduct raids near educational institutions.
So far, more than 30 cases have been registered during these raids conducted in the past month and gutka products worth Rs.1 crore have been seized.
In a bid to motivate the police personnel involved in busting the gutka network, the Police Commissioner expressed his appreciation and awarded certificates to the members of the special team.
DC (L&O) Balaji Saravanan, DC (Crime) Uma, DC (Traffic) Mutharasu, DC (HQ) Selvakumar were present.