Move over cigarettes, beedi now the craze
By N. Parameswaran in Jaffna
View(s): Beedi sales have increased in Jaffna University area, after the increase in cigarette prices.
University students who smoked cigarette earlier have now turned to beedi, after the recent price surge in cigarettes, an effort by the Government to reduce consumption which is harmful to health.
S. Paramanathan, owner of the Sivan Stores, just opposite the Jaffna University, says beedi sales have doubled. Most of these students who have switched to beedi come from poor families, he said.
Other shop keepers in Jaffna also agreed that beedi sales have increased over cigarettes. A Jaffna university worker commented that middle class student were smoking beedis, a product used only by lower-rung workers and the poor.