Singh is already facing flak from own party and the opposition Congress over publicly defending Agrawal over the sterilisation deaths. Singh is already facing flak from own party and the opposition Congress over publicly defending Agrawal over the sterilisation deaths.

Despite the sterilisation camp deaths in Chhattisgarh linked now to tainted drugs, state Health Minister Amar Agrawal so far has Chief Minister Raman Singh solidly behind him. Others in the state are not surprised.

Agrawal’s family runs a flourishing business in gudakhu, a highly harmful tobacco product believed to be the biggest cause of oral cancer in the state, despite Chhattisgarh itself having banned manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of “tobacco and nicotine-containing gutkha and pan masala”. Both Singh and his minister defend the business saying it is “ancestral”.

In a residential colony in Agrawal’s home district of Bilaspur, which saw some of the sterilisation deaths, stands the imposing Agrawal Gudakhu Factory. The premises also house the registered offices of two other gudakhu factories run by the family — Bansal Gudakhu Udyog and Ajanta Gudakhu Udyog.

While the Agrawal Gudakhu Factory is run by the Health Minister’s brother Brijmohan Agrawal, he has stakes in the other two. According to Agrawal’s 2008 election affidavit, he gave a loan of Rs 46,847 to Bansal Gudakhu Udyog and his wife Shashikala Agrawal gave Rs 2.67 lakh to Ajanta Gudakhu Udyog. His 2013 affidavit confirms a loan of Rs 66,308 to Bansal Gudakhu Udyog.

The factories were set up by Agrawal’s father and former BJP state president Lakhi Ram Agrawal and were later divided among his sons. In Bilaspur, people know all three as “mantriji ki factory”, even guiding you to the place. They are the biggest producers of gudakhu in the state.

Agrawal also holds shares worth Rs 1 lakh in Rukmini Power and Steel Ltd, a company named after his mother that has its registered office on the Agarwal Gudakhu Factory Campus in Bilaspur. His son Aditya Agrawal is one of the directors.

A mix of tobacco and decomposed gud (jaggery), gudakhu is widely consumed across rural Chhattisgarh. A health official explained that

since the direct consumption of tobacco has been banned, the order should include gudakhu also.

In a state that has banned tobacco, factory workers admit the plant cannot run without the patronage of “mantriji”. “I cannot give advertisements, print calendars, even manufacture key chains to promote my business. You see, even spreading the word about my product is banned. But my gudakhu sells by my name,” said the factory manager.

Asked about the gudakhu factories, Agrawal first tried to distance himself from them. “It is my family business, I am not involved in it,” he said. When asked about his stake in them, he said: “Can’t I give loan to my family? Why do you raise personal issues?”

About why, despite being a Health Minister, he had links to a substance that had been banned in the state, he said: “A factory cannot run without a licence. There is no illegality in it. I have not hidden anything from anyone, all these businesses are known to everyone.”

Raman Singh himself said: “This is Agrawal’s family business. They have been doing it for two-three generations. It is nowhere (written) that the owner of a gudakhu factory cannot be made health minister.”

The CM added that there is “no ban on gudakhu in the state or the country… If any such rules are framed, we will consider banning it.”

Singh is already facing flak from own party and the opposition Congress over publicly defending Agrawal over the sterilisation deaths. “Doctors conduct operations, not the minister,” the CM had said.

This year’s annual publication by the Chhattisgarh government’s Cancer Institute notes that “oral and throat cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer among men in the state, which is caused by consuming any form of tobacco, including gudakhu”. “Gudakhu is being used in the state for long as toothpaste. A large number of women and children also use it. Therefore, these groups also record oral and throat cancer,” it says.

Raipur-based senior ENT specialist Dr R K Gupta warns that gudakhu consumption among women could “soon take the form of an epidemic”. “Around 35,000 cases of tobacco-related oral cancer are reported in Chhattisgarh every year. Of these 50 per cent victims are women, whereas in other states women form less than 30 per cent of such cases. Gudakhu is a major reason for cancer among women. The government spends many times more on treating these patients than the revenue it earns from the sale of these products,” said Gupta.

“It depends on the government’s will to implement the ban,” said Gupta. According to the government order, if a shopkeeper is found to violate the tobacco ban, his licence can be revoked and a fine can be imposed.

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