The pan masala advertisements on Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd (KTCL) buses are in violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COPTA) and Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997, according to the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE).
Dr Shekhar Salkar, President of NOTE, said that the current advertisements depicted on KTCL buses amounts to a premeditated propaganda and tactic to display paan masala/mouth freshener product and indirectly market smokeless tobacco.
The NOTE President highlighted that the KTCL vide NIT KTC/GM/2021-22/315 dated 8/12/2021 had invited quotations for engaging advertising agencies and the tender document defines that the corporation shall disallow/discontinue the advertisements if it contravenes any regulation by central government or is repugnant to good morals or violates provisions of law in force.
“The current paan masala/mouth freshener advertisements displayed on your buses are not only in violation of COTPA Act but also breach tender norms constituted by your office and is bad in taste and immoral,” stated Salkar.
Considering the fact that children and young adults below the age of 15 years are among the biggest users of KTCL services across the State the said means of indirect promotion of dangerous tobacco products causing diseases like oral cancer can also be regarded as transgression of the Goa Children’s Act, 2003, he said.
