Tobacco products (circled) on sale at a roadside shop. Telegraph picture

Purnea, April 14: The Supreme Court ban on the sale of tobacco products like gutkha and pan masala in plastic packets has boosted the smuggling of products of alternative brands from Nepal.

In Purnea, Araria, Kisanganj and Katihar, the markets are flooded with tobacco products manufactured in Nepal. The alternative gutkha and mouth fresheners are sold in plastic sachets in complete violation of the apex court order.

Bunty, the owner of Santosh Pan Bhandar at Roopwani Picture Palace, told The Telegraph that the sale of pan masala and gutkha has dwindled by 50 per cent.

“Earlier, I used to sell about five boxes a day, now I sell barely two. The market prices have doubled. Earlier, each gutkha packet was priced at Re 1. Now, it costs Rs 3,” said Bunty.

Mantu Kumar Singh, the owner of a betel shop on the premises of the district court, said: “Though many products are packed in plastic sachets, like tooth powder, only tobacco products have been banned. Because of the new and expensive packaging, my sale has nosedived by 75 per cent.”

Customers still want this product in plastic sachets, he added. Officials, however, claim they are unaware of hoarding and blackmarketeering of tobacco products.

“If we get to know of such things we will take action,” said Kundan Kumar, the Sadar sub-divisional officer.

According to the Supreme Court order, tobacco products cannot be sold in plastic packets anymore. They need to made available in paper packaging. As a result, the price of these products has shot up and demand has gone down.

Not only are the Nepalese products available at lower prices, customers are also sceptical of the Indian products in paper packets.

The only persons to benefit from the order, passed on December 7 last year, are the blackmarketeers, who started stocking up on tobacco products since January this year. After the expiry of the March 1 deadline for the implementation of the order, blackmarketeers started making tobacco products available in the market from the first week of April.

Though the prices printed on the packets are the old ones, middlemen, who had stocked up on the products have started charging more, taking advantage of the acute mismatch in demand and supply.