Chandigarh Administration bans hookah bars from operating in city

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 13

The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday imposed a ban on hookah bars.  

In an order issued by District Magistrate Mandip Singh Brar, under Section 144 of the CrPC, “no hookah shall be served for smoke/consumption in hotels/restaurants/taverns/bars/hookah bars, etc”.

The hookah bars are thus banned to operate in Chandigarh with respect to their offering hookahs to the visitors, the order said.

The order also said that it has been made to appear that hookah bars are operational in Chandigarh in a clandestine way, which are serving flavored hookahs including tobacco molasses containing nicotine, which is highly injurious to health of people and at times there is a suspicion that apart from tobacco, other harmful narcotic chemicals are also mixed with tobacco molasses served in these hookah bars.

Whereas, the hookah in many of these bars is being smoked/consumed by the people/customers through a common bowl, pipe and a hose having mouth piece, which is susceptible to physical mouth to mouth touch of many persons, thus posing danger to human life, health and safety by becoming a cause of as well as leading to the transmission and spread of pandemic COVID-19 in Chandigarh, it said.

Any person violating this order shall be punished under Section 188 of the IPC.