UP makes license compulsory for selling tobacco in urban areas

Lucknow : The Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh has made licenses mandatory for selling tobacco products in urban areas.

Now, a fine would be imposed for violating the rules by the tobacco sellers.
For this, the Urban Development Department has instructed that all the urban bodies to pass bye-laws in their boards like

Along with this, a draft of the bye-law has also been sent. Under this, the license fee has been fixed at Rs 200 for temporary shops, Rs 1,000 for permanent shops and Rs 5000 for wholesalers.

According to the order issued by Additional Chief Secretary Urban Development Rajneesh Dubey on Saturday, all the urban bodies have to complete the process of implementing it by passing the bye-law on their own by July 31.

As per the new law, the license will be for one year and it will have to be renewed every year. The renewal fee for wholesalers has been kept at Rs 5,000. A fee of Rs 200 has been fixed for retail permanent sellers and Rs 100 for other temporary vendors including Gumti shops.

These sellers have to comply with the rules of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. No tobacco products shall be sold within a radius of 100 yards from educational institutions. It will be mandatory to put up signage on the shop for sale of tobacco and its damage. Also, tobacco products will not be sold to minors and selling loose cigarettes will be prohibited.

About 35.5 per cent people in Uttar Pradesh use tobacco in some form or the other.

Provision has been made for fines for sale of tobacco products without license. If caught for the first time, a fine of Rs 2,000 will be imposed, while for the second time a fine of Rs 5,000 will be payable. If caught for the third time, an FIR will be lodged with a fine of Rs 5,000.

The Environmental Engineer will be the officer in charge of issuing the license. Zonal officers will be its nodal officers and they will work under the direction of Additional Municipal Commissioner.

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