The mushrooming hookah bars across the city, which are frequented by minors, will be under the scanner for violation of the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA) 2003.
The development comes nearly a month after the high court clarified the ambiguity over the operation of hookah bar, and allowed authorities to take action against hookah joints that violate COTPA provisions even as it ruled that hookah bars do not require separate trade licences.
Also, Vishal Rao U.S, Member of the High-Powered Committee - Tobacco Control, Government of Karnataka, met City Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh with a memorandum to enforce the law and penalise the violators.
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Incidentally, authorities – Health and Police Departments – do not even have the number of hookah bars in the city.
Restaurants and lounge bars serving hookah to minors or serving hookah without pictorial warning, will be targeted for violations, sources in the State Anti-Tobacco Cell said. Also, action will be initiated on hookah bars that serve the hookah along with food in a common space, sources said. The hotels or lounge bars that are found advertising on social media would also be fined, sources said.
Meanwhile, a visit by this correspondent to several hookah bars in the central business district revealed that most of these bars violated the COTPA with impunity. Hookah bars were found serving hookahs in different flavours ranging from kiwi to chocolate to several minors gathered in groups. The prices for one pot which could be shared among four to five people for one and half hours ranged between Rs. 400 to Rs. 600.
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Dr. Rao said that there was a need for the Police and the Health Departments to act quickly to check on the proliferation of hookah bars as it could have terrible effect on passive smokers.