BENGALURU: No roadside tea shop owner can henceforth sell loose cigarettes from now on. For the first time ever, the state government has banned the sale of loose cigarettes, beedi and other tobacco products. The state government issued an order on September 7, 2017 banning the sale of these products sold with immediate effect.With this Karnataka happens to be the 17th state in India to ban loose sale of tobacco products.Speaking to TOI, a senior officer in health and family welfare department said that the move to publish pictorial warning on the 85 per cent of the cigarette packs were found not effective as the traders were selling loose cigarettes. “The loose sale of the cigarettes defeated the entire objective of cautioning the person to quit smoking through the 85 per cent warning sign on the cigarette packs. Hence, the decision to ban the loose sale of cigarettes was inevitable,” said the officer.Henceforth, the sale of these products will attract punishment as per the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA), column 20.