Ahmedabad: Cigarette stock up in smoke, panic burns paan shops

AHMEDABAD: A spurt in forced closure of paan and provision shops for not ensuring mask and social distancing norms has caused panic among shopowners as well as customers. Many regulars at paan shops stocked tobacco products for almost a week. On Tuesday, 130 paan shops were asked to pull down their shutters and fines of Rs 2.46 lakh were collected. "Almost 70% of the paan shops in the city remained closed following the raids, as word on the raids spread," said a senior Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) official. Paan shopowners protest that AMC is yet to announce guidelines for reopening shops after sealing and paying fines, which had led to the panic.

Various paan shops in Prahladnagar, Navrangpura, Naranpura, Bodakdev and Thaltej, among others, which were not sealed by the civic authorities, did not open on Tuesday. In the last few days, 376 paan shops have been asked to close. A solid waste management raiding team member revealed that in Bodakdev, shopowners were directly putting the beetle leaves in the mouth of the customer. Nearly 40% of them were not wearing gloves or masks. "We saw shopowners dipping their fingers in a small water bowl before pushing the paan concoction into next customer's mouth. The idea of hygiene is clearly misplaced," said the officer.
However, paan shopowners, do not agree, "The penalty is high and one cannot randomly impose fine on shopkeepers. If there are guidelines to seal a shop, there must be guidelines to reopen a shop after penalties are paid. Demand is slowing down, if shops begin to be forced shut this business will not be viable," said a paan shopowner.
Harshad Solanki, director of solid waste department, said, "Our purpose is purely to encourage shopowners to request their customers to avoid crowding and dirtying the area. It's nowhere to discourage shops. We need people's cooperation in these times."
Sanjay Joshi, president, Gujarat Paan Masala Shop Owners' Association, said, "Why target paan shops if customers spit in a public place and fails to maintain hygiene. If people violate norms, a shopkeeper cannot be held accountable for that behaviour and made to pay the penalty." Joshi said that a meeting of several paan masala and cigarette shopowners from across Ahmedabad was held on Tuesday evening, where shopkeepers discussed their woes. Another paan shopowner, who also has an ice cream parlour in Bopal area, said that he had informed all his regular customers to come late in the evening after 7pm or early in the morning between 8am and 10am because of these raids. "I have asked the ice cream suppliers to stop supplying ice cream for the next fortnight."