Sirsa wants actionagainst hookah bars

Writes to NGT for ban on operations

Taking stock: SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa after submitting a representation to the National Green Tribunal on hookah bars, in New Delhi on Thursday. Shanker Chakravarty

SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday urged the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to immediately take action against the hookah bars in the city, claiming they were turning the youth into drug addicts.

‘Bars illegal’

In a letter to the green panel, Mr. Sirsa said it was very surprising that hookah bars were operating in the city when most other States had banned such establishments.

He also alleged that the hookah bars in the city were operating illegally and selling harmful products to the youth.

Harmful effects

He said the tobacco used in a hookah contained harmful chemicals and could cause lung cancer, heart diseases, periodontal infection, wrinkled skin, impotency, TB herpes, influenza, nausea, coughing, etc.

The MLA also wrote that one session of hookah smoking was equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes.