Trichy: The illegal sale of gutka and other banned tobacco products continues unabated across Trichy as the district food safety department is unable to track down the supply chains yet. Due to this, procuring a gutka or any banned pan masala packet at petty shops in the city has become an easy task for habitual users.In the past few months, officials have repeatedly stated that their priority was to track down the supply chains so that curbing of gutka being sold at shops is done efficiently. But over the past one week, during which a mass inspection was done, only around 380kg gutka products were seized. Despite these seizures, sources from the food safety department said that none of those caught revealed any names or supply chains from where they procured the banned products.There are a total of 15 food safety officers deputed across the district and are headed by the designated officer (DO) for the department.A source from the department told TOI that getting a tip-off regarding the transportation of gutka is proving to be very difficult. The officer said that so far, they’ve only been able to get a clue that gutka was being purchased in large quantities from Karnataka, but they are yet to confirm it. “We received information that the suppliers go to Bengaluru to purchase gutka products. In an effort to nab them, we searched the passengers in private buses headed here from Bengaluru but we didn’t find anything. The biggest challenge is finding the supply chains,” the source said.Sources claimed that if a particular place is raided, those involved in the business in the entire area quickly alerted and they go low-key for several weeks.It has been said that gutka products are supplied to petty shops early in the morning by suppliers, who either travel predominantly on two-wheelers or in buses. “As all the petty shops and suppliers are quite aware, gutka is sold in very small quantities, but on a more frequent basis. It’s pretty hard to track all of them. But even if one is caught, the person no matter what, doesn’t reveal his supplier,” the food safety officer said.Dr R Chitra, DO of food safety department, Trichy, affirmed that that though several petty and tea stalls are still selling gutka products, it would be curbed soon. “I’ve already got the names of around six suppliers within the city. As per the information, the supply chain isn’t present anywhere within the city limits. Once we get the further information through our surveillance, we would get to know about the supply chains and act immediately,” she said. When asked if the department had sought the help of police for a joint inspection, Chitra said, “When it comes to gutka, we take care of the enforcement. Our team would take care of it.”

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