Faith Foundation survey on compliance with COVID 19 guideline for Pan shops

Faith Foundation conducted an extensive survey in the three cities namely Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Anand city to asses if the guidelines related to the unlock strategy of COVID19 management are followed by the shops selling tobacco in the cities under the study.

The field officers visited 359 shops in all the three cities and observed following points during their study.

1. Safety Measure

a. Mask worn by the seller

b. Mask worn by the buyer

c. Sanitizer at the shop

2. Rules

a. Take away only

b. Physical distancing rules followed at the PoS.

c. No smoking at the PoS (Point of Sale)

d. No Spitting at the PoS (Point of Sale)

However the finding are shocking as the field officers found the clear violation of safety measures issued by the government for unlock phase. The field officers found,

1. Masks were not used by shopkeepers at 229 (63.78%) out of 359 pan shops during the survey.

2. During the survey, 267 (74.37%) out of 359 customers visiting the pan shops were not found wearing masks.

3. During the survey 307 (85.51%) out of 359 pan shops did not use sanitizer.

4. During the survey, 343 (95.54%) out of pan shops were not rounded out to observe social distance.

5. During the survey, 276 (76.88%) out of the total 359 consumers were not taking away products like Pan Masala / Tobacco or BD / Cigarettes as per the guidelines of the Government. But people were consuming Pan Masala/Tobacco on pan shops.

6. During the survey, 340(94.70%) out of 359 were not instructed to “No Spitting in public Place” or “Maintain social distance.”

“In India sale of single stick cigarettes is prohibited, which has been violated throughout the pan shops. Purchase and sale of single stick includes hand to hand interaction to the cigarettes increases the chance of COVID spread. So we recommend to Stricter implementation of COVID 19 guidelines by the government, Intensive checking should be carried out by the team of health department and food and drugs department on all the pan shops and strict action should be taken against the violators and the sale and consumption should be banned for the next one month,” said Susan Christian founder member Faith Foundation.

Survey report will be submitted to Collector, Police Commissioner, Department of Health and Family welfare and department of Home.