Nagpur: The agent of his team has begun to keep an eye on the consignment of betel nuts that come to the city of Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) after reaching there from Sri Lanka who took the sea route.
Most of these betel nuts are smuggled into mainland India through the sea route that avoids various tasks and taxes that flow to Crores Rupees.
Apart from the tax evasion, the smuggling of sub-standard betel nuts from Indonesia also affected the business of local traders.
According to official sources, instead of Myanmar Port and then through the Northeast Highway through Guwahati, some traders are the procurement of sub-standard betel nuts from Indonesia at cheaper prices through Sri Lanka.
Resources stated that betel nuts below the standard were brought to Sri Lanka from Indonesia because of low import duties.
Fake documents are prepared to show betel nuts as locally planted in Sri Lanka.
From Sri Lanka, Bethel nuts were brought to JNPT in Navi Mumbai where they were distributed to various parts of India including Nagpur which was considered the largest center in Central India.
In Nagpur, betel nuts are processed by smoking with sulfur dioxide and then cut into pieces before flavoring, aroma and coloring to make it a base material for tobacco products.
Experts such as Senior Surgeon Onco Dr.
Sudhir Deshmukh stated that Central India was the worst area in the country as far as tobacco-related cancer.
Dr.
Deshmukh said the youngest patient he had seen was an eight-year-old boy who had begun to chew tobacco while preparing ‘Kharra’ for his father at the kiosk of their family’s pot.
“Sirih nuts are generally consumed with tobacco like a sweet supari.
It can damage the oral cavity, esophagus, throat, stomach and lungs,” he said.
“Chewing Bigs for a long time can cause trauma to the oral cavity that can turn into a problem at that time,” he said.
In accordance with the notes of food and drug administration (FDA), 77 samples of betel nuts were collected from various warehouses in the district between April last year and March this year.
About 18 samples of sub-standard tasting and 23 are not safe for consumption.
The material worth around Rs 5.41 Crore was also confiscated.
“Some betel nut traders utilize weak legislation to continue their trade but some also face recurring actions,” said an FDA official.
Regardless of the action from the FDA and the Directorate of Income Intelligence (DRI), the source of people in stating that some immoral traders continued their illegal business.
The CBI has for the first time conducting a raid last month to take action against the smuggling of arecon.