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Gutka manufacturers hail Supreme Court move to make them party to hearing

'The apex court has given opportunity to the manufactures to put their side during the hearing by making them a party to it,' Rakesh Agrawal, president of the pan masala traders and general stores, said.

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After the Supreme Court today allowed manufacturers of chewable tobacco products like gutka to become party to the hearing of a plea against their sale in plastic sachets, tobacco manufacturers and traders here said the move will allow them to present their side in the court.

"The apex court has given opportunity to the manufactures to put their side during the hearing by making them a party to it," Rakesh Agrawal, president of the pan masala traders and general stores, said.

"We will tell the court that we are not violating any of its orders and are complying with the same by not selling chewable tobacco products in plastic sachets," Agrawal said.

He said by the next hearing on July 20, the manufacturers will decide their stand and will also represent labourers employed by the gutka industry before the court.

There are 20 major gutka manufacturers in the city who have around 300 machines for manufacturing the pan masala.

"After the plastic ban by the Supreme Court, all traders of chewable tobacco products in the city submitted notices to the Central Excise Department from March 1 to 15. They have given their closure notices to the Department informing that no manufacturing work is being carried out by any of their machines. The manufacturers have to pay Rs12.5 lakh to the excise department for a single machine," he said.

With around 400 manufacturers, Kanpur is considered the hub of chewable tobacco products. The annual turnover which by supplying gutka and other related products to other parts of the country is Rs400 crore.

There are 70 to 80 companies who manufacture plastic sachets where 15,000 labourers work but they are jobless since the past two months due to the ban.

The Supreme Court today allowed several civil societies and manufacturers of non-smoking, chewing tobacco products like gutka to become a party to the hearing of a plea against their sale in plastic sachets.

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