Thousands of paan-tobacco retailers in State have decided to take forward the fight against Union Government’s recent order asking them not to sell non tobacco items saying that abiding by the order is going to drag poor retailers and their families into starvation.
Jharkhand Paan Tambaaku Vikreta Sangh wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on November 9 requesting the Government to review the decision of Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry which has directed all states to develop a mechanism through municipal authorities to grant licenses to tobacco products’ retailers and ensure that they didn't sell non-tobacco items.
“We, the Jharkhand Paan Tambaku Vikreta Sangh, present the collective voice of the interests of more than 2 lakhs traders, retailers and panwallas, selling tobacco products across Jharkhand. We represent the micro retailers of India, and our livelihood depends equally on selling of tobacco products and non-tobacco items of everyday use such as bread, eggs, juices, soft drinks, wafers etc,” said the Sangh in its letter to the Prime Minister.
“See, it is a matter of our life. We have suffered a lot post demonetisation, as we suffered badly due to shortage of smaller denomination currency notes and registered a steep fall in sales for many months which we have not recovered from yet, frankly speaking. Secondly, though we don’t encourage use of tobacco products and wish those addicted could come out of it as early as possible, the pleasant efforts of same by consumers has left us with no reasonable income to feed our families at all. So, we only want a substitute of our income and we will meet in Delhi or Patna on December 2 at national level to finalise course of action ahead,” said Sangh Secretary Ravi Kant Jha on Sunday.
Going ahead, the Association in its letter has labeled suggestions by Union Government as grossly unfair and draconian. “This will have a life-threatening effect on our families. All our family members are deeply troubled and stressed. Any forced reduction in the products sold by us, will have a severe financial impact on us, as we have regular fixed clientele and some of them will permanently leave us, if we are not able to cater to their needs,” said Sangh.
Notably, scores of retailers staged a demonstration outside Raj Bhavan on recently followed by a protest march from Jaipal Singh Stadium to Zakir Hussain Park demanding a rollback of the directive. “This is why we are not in a position to step back. Either government manages jobs for us or allows us to do business the way we have been doing is the only way ahead,” said Jha.