Bhubaneswar, June 5: Black marketing of cigarettes has become rampant in the city because of an ongoing crackdown on the sale of gutkha, cigarettes and other tobacco products from May 31 to June 6.

May 31 was World No Tobacco Day.

Police have identified 2,058 offenders in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and collected Rs 2.16 lakh in fines.

While the state government had, in 2013, banned the sale of gutkha and paan masala under the Food Safety and Standards (prohibition and restrictions on sales) Regulations, 2011, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products are banned within 100 yards radius of educational institutes following the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Product Act, 2003 (COTPA). The sale of any tobacco product to minors is also prohibited under the act.

The crackdown has not gone down well with customers who are being forced to cough up Rs 10 more on each cigarette packet. The fear of getting caught has forced many small-time shopkeepers to shut down their shops.

"Most of the shops don't have stock of cigarettes and the ones which are still selling cigarettes are asking for more than the printed price. Some times they are charging Rs 20 extra for a single packet," said a smoker.

On the other hand, some shopkeepers alleged that the police had seized cigarettes and gutkha despite their shops being located more than 100 yards of educational institutes. "Police seized gutkhas from my shop along with hundreds of packets of cigarettes. They also seized some packs of few condom and playing cards and I have no clue why they did that," said Dhirendra Jena, who runs a shop at Kharavela Nagar.

Some residents also demanded action against smoking in public places. Section 4 of the act prohibits smoking at public places such as offices, bus stops, railway stations, restaurants, hotels and pubs.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said the drive would continue throughout the year.

"We will ensure that tobacco products are not sold near the educational institutes. We will shortly also launch a drive to penalise people for smoking in public spaces," said Bhoi.