Sale of pan to be banned in Kerala

Kochi: Excise commissioner Rishi Raj Singh on Sunday said that the sale of pan will be banned in the state to insulate the adult and children of the state from falling victims of the growing menace. “In the normal practice, people of the state are not addicted to pan but of late there has been increase use of it even among children. It is one reason for increasing cases of cancer,” he told mediapersons after the excise raid in migrant labour pockets in district.

Mr Singh said that the use ganja and other narcotic substances has gone up by over 75 per cent after the closure of bars in the state. He said that a meeting of mobile service providers and related officials will be called in Ernakulam on July 22 for enabling the Excise Department to have access to mobile tower locations and call details to help in its investigations.

It will approach government for starting de-addiction centres under the department and awareness classes too will be conducted. He said that the Railways has now agreed to allow Excise Department sleuths inside railway station premises for inspection. Mr Singh also said that moves are afoot to give stringent punishment to ganja peddlers who bring it in small quantities to get bail and lighter sentence.

“It is non-bailable if the substance caught is beyond 1 kg. So they bring it in packets of 500 gm and 750 gm in which case they get bail on the day itself,” he said adding the Centre is being apprised to change the law, especially for sale on premises of educational institutions.