Excise Dept urged to check illicit tobacco trade

Urging the State Excise and Taxation department to become active partner in its fight against menace of tobacco in the State, the Punjab Health Department on Thursday asked it to launch a coordinated drive against illegal hookah bars and those establishments flouting anti-tobacco acts. Principal Secretary Health Vini Mahajan, in a communiqué to the Financial Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, asked him to issue instructions to field staff of Excise and Taxation department to ensure that tobacco products manufactured and packaged must depict the notified pictorial health warning.

She said that this way the illicit manufacture and trade of tobacco products could be checked to a large extent.Mahajan asked the Financial Commissioner Excise and Taxation to take immediate action not less than cancelling the permits of all those illicit or contraband tobacco manufacturing companies selling their products without any pictorial health warnings which is mandatory under section 7 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003.

Quoting statistics, Mahajan said that one in every 10 cigarettes and many other tobacco products consumed worldwide are illegal which was a major cause of concern.