Shopkeepers asked not to sell Gutka

MANSEHRA: The president of traders central body in Oghi has asked the shopkeepers not to sell Gutka as it causes cancer to its users.

“The government has imposed a complete ban on the consumption and sale of Gutka [betel quid mixed with chewing tobacco] and traders should avoid its sale to make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Departments’ crackdown against it successful,” Sarbuland Khan, the president of traders body, told reporters in Oghi on Monday.

He said traders should respect the government’s ban and destroy the Gutka stock not only for their personal but also for the benefits of people as a whole. “If traders still sell this contraband, we would never back them instead of put our entire energies behind watchdog departments to make their efforts successful,” said Sarbuland Khan.

He said officials of KP Food Authority had also held talks with office-bearers of the traders body and sought support to make the ongoing crackdown against Gutka successful.