Live
- Exams will not be cancelled: BPSC chairman
- Nagesh Trophy: Karnataka, T.N win in Group A; Bihar, Rajasthan triumph in Group B
- Economic and digital corridors to maritime connectivity, India and Italy building vision for future, says Italian Ambassador
- SMAT 2024: Patidar's heroics guide Madhya Pradesh to final after 13 years
- CCPA issues notices to 17 entities for violating direct selling rules
- Mamata expresses satisfaction over speedy conviction in minor girl rape-murder case
- Transparent Survey Process for Indiramma Housing Scheme Directed by District Collector
- District SP T Srinivas Rao, IPS, Conducts Annual Inspection at Dharur Police Station
- Job Fair for Pharmacy Retail Store Opportunities in Dharur and Hyderabad
- Focus on Employment, Not Liquor Shops: Ramachandra Reddy Demands Youth Empowerment in Telangana
Action in offing against selling loose cigarettes
Sale of loose or single cigarettes would soon be a thing of the past with Telangana State Legal Metrology Department officials seriously mulling implementing a 2009 rule. The issue has assumed significance after officials in neighbouring Maharashtra have started taking action on retailers for selling loose cigarettes.
Hyderabad: Sale of loose or single cigarettes would soon be a thing of the past with Telangana State Legal Metrology Department officials seriously mulling implementing a 2009 rule. The issue has assumed significance after officials in neighbouring Maharashtra have started taking action on retailers for selling loose cigarettes.
The selling of loose cigarettes is a violation under the section 18 of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 which states that selling loose items from any packaged item is wrong. “No person shall manufacture, pack, sell, import, distribute, deliver, offer, expose or possess for sale any pre-packaged commodity unless such package is in such standard quantities or number and bears thereon such declarations and particulars in such manner as may be prescribed,” the Act says.
Sale of loose cigarettes is also a violation of Rule 2(m) of Legal Metrology Act, which said that no product can be sold without the mandatory display of a product. In case of loose cigarettes, the norm cannot be followed and hence is a violation of the rule. The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act makes it mandatory for tobacco sellers to display a warning sign along with the product.
Legal Metrology Assistant Controller V Srinivas said that currently action was being taken on dealers who are charging more than maximum retail price (MRP). “A loose cigarette has no specified price on it and hence we cannot take action against retailers,” he said. He said that discussions were underway in the department and a clarity was expected in next few days. Around 70 per cent of the smokers in India prefer buying loose cigarettes.
The National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) global adult tobacco survey of India 2010 found that 35 per cent of teens in the age group of 15-18 use tobacco and 14.6 per cent for the children in the age group of 13 and 15 also use tobacco. The report identifies that the practice of selling loose cigarettes was a major reason for increase in demand for tobacco among youngsters.
