Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim announced a complete ban on hookahs served in restaurants and bars of Kolkata, West Bengal.
On the night of the 2nd of December, Friday, Mr. Firhad Hakim issued a notice and announced the closure of hookahs at all bars and restaurants in the city. The announcement was in the view of health concerns of the youngsters and people of Kolkata consuming hookahs.
As per sources, Mayor Farihad Hakim noted some of the bars in the city are mixing drugs with the hookahs, which is dangerous to the people and causing sickness to many. Mr. Hakim said, “We have received many complaints about hookah bars. We have heard that in some hookah bars drugs are used. Our young generation is getting addicted to hookah bars.” He further added that there is no special license for hookah bars and it comes under bars and restaurants license. Mayor Firhad Hakim said, “There was never any separate licence for a hookah bar. It was part of the licence for a restaurant or a bar. There are around 15 such bars that have been allowed to function as hookah bars. We will issue a notification to cancel the licences.”
Furthermore, if any bar or restaurant violates the issued orders of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC,) they might face police action with the help of the civic authority. The KMC also announced to crack down on all such bars and take strict action if they continue serving hookahs, even after the announced ban. The bars have been directed to shut down in terms of hookah serving from midnight on the 3rd of December, Saturday.
Furthermore, the KMC also clarified, while the existing bars and restaurants serving hookahs would be shut down, no new license would be provided for new hookah bars in the town. In addition, the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) would also cancel their licences to serve hookahs given to other bars earlier.
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