Chandigarh Administration bans hookah bars from operating in city

Chandigarh [India], October 13 (ANI): 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".
In an official statement, Brar said: "Whereas, it has been made to appear to me that hookah bars are operational in Chandigarh in a clandestine way, which are serving flavoured hookahs including tobacco molasses containing nicotine, which is highly injurious to the 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."
He mentioned that hookahs are smoked or consumed by customers through a common bowl, pipe and a hose having a mouthpiece, which is susceptible to physical mouth to mouth contact of many people, thus posing danger to human life, health and safety by becoming a cause of as well as leading to the transmission and spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Chandigarh.
"Therefore, I, Mandip Singh Brar, IAS, District Magistrate, Chandigarh, exercising the power vested upon me under section 144 of the Cr PC, hereby order that 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," said the statement.
The order will come into force from October 14, and will be effective for a period of 60 days, up to and including December 12. (ANI)