At the end of a debate on the issue in the state Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said revoking the May 30 government notification would only benefit the gutka lobby and would not help the cause of curbing cancer cases.
The ban is as per the Supreme Court order, he said,denying that it was a hasty decision. The government had no other option but to impose the ban. As many as 23 States and five Union Territories have taken similar step.
Seeking to allay concerns of the growers, he said the decline of price of arecanut was only marginal. Government would extend them support if the prices crash, he assured.
BJP floor leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said government has not come out with any specific roadmap to find solutions to growers' woes and announced that BJP members would stage a walk-out in protest, at which time Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, BJP members, who spoke in the House, demanded immediate withdrawal of the Government notification, asserting that it would hit arecanut growers.
Shettar charged the Government with having taken a hasty decision without pondering over its implication on arecanut farmers, and sought its withdrawal till the problems of the growers are addressed.
Shettar, who raised the issue along with some BJP members, said Government should have held discussions with legislators from arecanut growing areas, before issuing the notification.
Council
In Legislative Council, opposition leader of D?V?Sadananda Gowda said that the prices of arecanut crashed by at least Rs 2,000 per quintal across Karnataka barely 24 hours after the ban was announced.
“The previous Congress government, led by S M?Krishna, had supported our agitation when prices of arecanut had crashed. He didn't take time to convene an all-party meeting along with the other stakeholders to discuss the issue. But this government does not even want to talk about the matter,” Gowda said.
The former Chief Minister blamed the bureaucracy for taking the government for a ride and pushing it to take a hasty decision.
He said that the ban on paan masala was also “thoughtless.” Paan masala has no proven record of being injurious to public health. “The Kerala High Court has, in fact, reversed the government's decision to ban paan masala in that State,” Gowda pointed out.
BJP?MLC Srinivas Poojar said people employed in the gutka industry had been pushed to the streets.
In reply, Mangalore MLA and Minister for Health and Family Welfare U T?Khader said that the government did not have any other option. “We had to comply with the Supreme Court directive. We don't want to violate it. Even the Advocate General favoured the ban.”
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