Title - In gutkha ban’s blind spot, no platform for action plan says RPF

Tension and uncertainty in Raju Thorat’s life come visting once in a couple of months, when he makes the eight-hour train journey to Gulbarga in Karnataka to stock up on banned gutkha that he and his group of several dozen visually and physically challenged persons hawk on Pune railway station’s platforms.Otherwise, life’s generally a breeze, as neither the Railways, police nor the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a coordinated action plan to plug the illegal sale of gutkha.
While Railways officials like health inspectors say they can only report open sale of gutkha to the Railway Protection Force (RPF), the latter points to lack of information about the contraband’s source and a “soft spot” for these challenged hawkers. Meanwhile, FDA’s hands are tied as its jurisdiction doesn’t extend to the railway station.  In the midst of all this confused inaction, these hawkers continue to walk the lengths of platforms 2,3,4 and 5 selling gutkha, besides chikki, biscuits and hard candy. Police Inspector J D More of the RPF, who is in-charge of Pune railway station, said patrols will be increased to curb the sale of gutkha on platforms.

“We have received a complaint from the station manager regarding the sale of gutkha on platforms, and our investigation has begun to identify the kingpin behind this racket.

During our initial investigations, we found that these hawkers are associated with two organisations for the blind — the Poona Blind Men’s Association (PBMA) and Rashtriya Drushtihin Sanstha. We are trying to contact these organisations and will meet with them on Sunday along with the Railways administration,” More said.

However, this meeting may not happen as the RPF hasn’t been able to contact the Rashtriya Drushtihin Sanstha, while the PBMA has flatly refused to take any responsibility for the hawkers.

Dr Homiyar Mobedji, chief executive at PBMA, denied any connection saying, “Ours is a technical training institute and we only give training to visually challenged people.

We do not have any connection with these persons selling gutkha at the railway station. It’s possible that some of them may have undergone training at our institute, where we teach basic computer use, handicraft-making and other vocational courses.”

Railway health inspector Nandan Garigar said, “We have seen people selling gutkha illegally at the station on many occasions and have issued warnings to them, but we don’t have the authority to take legal action. All we can do when we find people selling gutkha is inform the RPF.”

“Before gutkha was banned in the state, we were taking action on illegal hawkers inside the station. We had a soft corner for these visually challenged people and thought there were only two or three such hawkers.

But it’s really shocking to hear that there is a large group of such persons selling gutkha. I have instructed the RPF to take immediate action on persons found selling gutkha,” said station manager Sunil Kamthan.

Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (food) with FDA (Pune district), added, “We cannot take action inside the railway station as we are not authorised. The Railways’ own health inspectors are there for that. as well as the RPF.”

Raju Thorat, meanwhile, continues to ply his trade. “We have a group of 35 to 40 people, all visually and physically challenged. Since the last decade and more, we have been selling biscuits, sweets, chikki and supari items at the railway station. It is our only source of income.

Earlier, when gutkha sale was legal, we purchased it in the local market. Now, one of us makes the trip to Gulbarga in Karnataka to buy the same, as per our requirement.”

Vijay Kulkarni, also visually challenged, said, “Yes, we are selling gutkha at the railway station 10 am to 7 pm. There is a lot of demand for gutkha. I sell more than 50 pouches of gutkha every day, priced between between Rs 5 and Rs 20 per pouch, depending on the brand. The average individual daily income for our group members is close to Rs 1,000.”