Ban on gutkha unlikely

Union minister for agriculture Sharad Pawar and Union minister for commerce Kamal Nath have in-principle agreed not to ban gutkha.

They have decided to restrict the import of arecanut from Malaysia, Pakistan and other countries, district in-charge minister and former Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Ltd. (Campco) president B Nagaraj Shetty said.

Shetty told reporters here at the Campco office that he and a delegation comprising arecanut producers in the state and Campco officials had met the two Union ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday and had asked them to clear the air on gutkha ban once and for all.

The delegation also insisted on a 'minimum floor price' of Rs 65 per kg of imported arecanut to stop firms from availing of huge benefits by underinvoicing while producers in the country suffered.

It had been detected that the imported varieties were of cheap quality and it was likely to tell on the health of consumers, he said.

Around 60 per cent of the imported arecanut went into the production of gutkha and therein lies the crux of all troubles.

Campco had expressed its willingness to act as a nodal agency to certify imported areca and has already directed organisations under it to concentrate on marketing red areca, he added.