No Decision Yet On Cigarette Ban Over Smoking-Covid Link: Maharashtra

Bombay High Court had previously suggested that the state government consider a temporary ban on the sale of cigarettes and beedis.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that it had not yet decided on taking any action against the production and sale of cigarettes and beedis over a possible link between smoking and COVID-19, and said it was not against manufacturers. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, who appeared for the state government, told the High Court that following his previous submissions over a possible link between smoking and severity of the COVID-19 infection, several manufacturers had written to the state government denying the connection. "Some of them (manufacturers) are thinking that the government is opposed to them. Some beedi manufacturers even held a protest yesterday," Mr Kumbhakoni said, clarifying that the state government is not against any manufacturer of cigarettes and beedis. On June 16, Mr Kumbhakoni had cited research papers of the Union government's Tata Memorial Centre that claimed that there existed a possible "positive correlation between smoking and COVID severity".