Bihar bans Manufacture and Sale of Gutka and Paan Masala

Nitish Kumar led Bihar government has imposed a ban on the manufacture, sale and storage of Gutka and Paan Masala in the state for one year, with immediate effect.

Officials in the chief minister’s office said the health department had issued a notification to this effect.

As per an order issued by the commissioner of food safety-cum-secretary, health, the manufacture, sale, distribution and storage of all the gutka and paan masala containing tobacco and nicotine would be banned in the state for the next one year under the Food Safety and Standards (Regulation) Act 2011 “in the public interest”.


The health department has asked all the district magistrates, superintendents of police and civil surgeons to enforce the ban in the areas under their jurisdiction.

The order said that the commissioner of food safety was empowered under Section 30 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 to issue the ban order in this regard. The government decision to enforce the ban was welcomed by the people in general.

Bihar has become the third state after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh to ban paan and gutka products.
Earlier such a ban was in place from 2000 to 2005, but illegal smuggling of Gutkhas from neighboring state forced Government to withdraw the ban.

Uttar Pradesh government is also planning to ban gutka and paan masala. The state’s legal department has been asked to work on the proposal.