Bhubaneswar, Jan. 4: Four years since the state government banned the manufacture and sale of nicotine-based products, small merchants, including paan shops, are still raking in money by flouting the order.

A state government notification on January 5, 2013, had banned the manufacture, storage, sale and distribution of gutkha and paan masala, including those containing tobacco or nicotine.

Regular raids were conducted when the government first imposed the order to ban the products. However, the state capital has seen a mushrooming of merchants selling the products since raids became infrequent. Even Omfed kiosks have been found selling these products.

Md Imran Ali, whose efforts led to the ban of gutkha and chewable tobacco in the state, said the health and family welfare department had become complacent.

"The sale of gutkha and chewable tobacco is going on unabashedly. It has become the norm now," he said.

Ali had filed a public interest litigation in Orissa High Court seeking a ban on the sale of tobacco products.The high court passed a verdict in his favour in 2011 and banned the sale of such products at Omfed kiosks.

The state government followed the order by banning all chewable tobacco in 2013. "The government has been cracking down on factories manufacturing gutkha, but it has failed to ensure that the stuff is not sold in public places," said Pradyumna Sarangi, whose 14-year-old son was addicted to gutkha.

"We discovered that he was addicted to the product last year. He admitted to consuming gutkha for the past year," Sarangi stated.

According to Sarangi, the easy availability of gutkha near his son's school was a reason behind his addiction.

Reports say more than 40 per cent youngsters between 18 and 30 years are addicted to gutkha and chewable tobacco in the city.

Medicine specialist Dr R.C. Mohanty said besides causing cancer, gutkha also leads to hypertension. "I have seen youngsters, no older than 25, suffering from hypertension with high levels of systolic and diastolic. If untreated, this can lead to coma in extreme cases," he said.

The government has already authorised police officials not below the rank of sub-inspector and food inspectors to take action in their respective areas under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act.

A health and family welfare department official admitted that the ban on gutkha and chewable tobacco has not been strictly enforced. "There has been laxity in enforcing the ban. We will ask the police to conduct raids and ensure that the ban is enforced," he added.