Price surge in tobacco, cigarettes and pan masalas

Haath ma che monghi tambaku, ne aakhon ma paani, bewafa lockdown tari meherbani.

In March, when there were a few cases of coronavirus in the country, an undue advantage of the situation was taken by the sellers of masks and hand sanitizers, as they had increased the prices, thereby, cheating their customers during an emergency time. While masks and sanitizers are the necessity, Gujarat is currently part of the price hike in alcohol.

Gujarat is a dry state but, beyond the legal documentation, the scenario is quite different. In fact, the presence of alcohol has seeped into many Gujarati songs too. If you pull the right strings, you can lay your hands, on branded alcohol too.

The nationwide lockdown has driven people to the edge and put the alcohol-drinkers in quite a frenzy. Even the tobacco addicts are having a hard time due to the lockdown. The prices have surged and many are ready to pay any amount just to stock up on their daily dose of nicotine. The padikis which were earlier of Rs. 5 are now being sold at the rate of Rs. 40. A pack of 10 cigarettes which earlier cost between Rs. 100 to Rs. 200, now ranges between Rs. 400 to Rs. 600. Bidis are now of Rs. 100 too. The sellers of pan masala are selling in packs instead of loose sachets.

There had been cases of robbery in Vadodara, where the robber was desperate for pan masala and got infected with the coronavirus. Recently, in Wankaner, to fix their addiction, two men killed their friend, after he refused to share the tobacco and killed their friend in the heat of the moment. In another case, a drone was used to carry pan masala from one person to another,

The price-situation of alcohol is similar too. Normal affordable alcohol which ranged between Rs. 600 to Rs. 900 has now tripled to around Rs. 2,100 to Rs. 2,700. The content of the bottle is also quite questionable. Most of the bottles are being filled with potli (cheap liquor) and tea water. It is important to note that cheap quality or spurious alcohol can blind and at times lead to death too.