By IANS
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will ban gutkha, or chewing tobacco, in the state from Jan 1 next year.
The decision was taken after Chief Minister Raman Singh found to his horror that thousands of schoolchildren and youth were addicted to gutkha, said a top official.
The chief minister has instructed officials to move for a complete ban on the manufacture, storage, sale and advertising of gutkha products from the new year.
According to officials, the food and drugs department recently collected samples of gutkha from markets across the state and found a high percentage of magnesium carbonate in gutkha pouches.