Sindh law and environment adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab has proposed 10-year imprisonment as a sentence for people involved in the production of gutka and mainpuri (the chewable forms of tobacco), saying a bill for the purpose has already been presented in the provincial assembly.
He presented a proposal to this effect on Wednesday as he attended a meeting of the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Parliamentary Affairs at the provincial assembly.
The standing committee has been currently considering the draft of ‘The Sindh Prohibition of Preparation, Manufacturing, Storage, Sale and Use of Gutka and Mainpuri Bill-2019’ earlier presented in the assembly in October this year.
Barrister Wahab said people who had been recklessly endangering the health of people should be given stern punishments like handing them long-term imprisonment so as to make their cases an example for the rest of the society.
He also proposed confiscation of properties of people involved in manufacturing gutka and mainpuri in the province. The bill also proposes jail terms ranging from seven to 30 days against people found to have consumed gutka or mainpuri.
He said the provincial government would slap a complete ban on the preparation and consumption of gutka and mainpuri in the province, while the bill proposed to this effect contained proposals for stern punishments against violators of the ban.
The adviser appealed to the masses to come forward and lend support to the government’s drive against anti-social elements which had been playing with the health of the masses. He informed the members of the standing committee that the proposed bill had a special provision to prevent the police from misusing the draft law to ban the preparation, sale and consumption of gutka and mainpuri.
He said policemen found to have overstepped their authority and misused this law for their own vested interests could be given three-year imprisonment. Later, the standing committee finalised the draft of the bill and sent it to the Sindh Assembly for adoption.