Unlock-2: Varanasi bans tobacco, paan exempted

Varanasi: The district administration on Thursday reimposed ban on the sale of paan masala and tobacco in the district in view of a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. Though sale of Banarasi paan has been exempted from the ban, it could only be consumed at home.
The decision came along with many restrictions on the lines of Lockdown-1, as the district administration introduced new guidelines for Unlock-2.Public parks have been sealed once again while coming out of home without genuine reason will land one in a quarantine centre.
After the stat issued directives for Unlock-2, district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma finalised the plan keeping in view the ground realities and rise in the frequency of detection of Covid-19 positive cases on Wednesday night.
The effects were visible in the city markets and roads from Thursday morning, as police were seen in action at almost all the crossings to ensure that nobody moved out without masks and guidelines of social distancing were followed.
The DM told TOI that, “Health department officials have claimed high consumption of tobacco and spitting it in public had a key role in Covid rise. Thus, it was decided to ban sale of paan masala for one month.” P2