Chandigarh: Late night raids on Panchkula lounges and bars last Wednesday have revealed how the hookah, once a symbol of brotherhood in Haryana villages, has made a place for itself in the city with bars continuing to serve it surreptitiously, despite a ban.
According to a press release issued by the State Information and Public Relations Department Saturday, a copy of which is with ThePrint, the orders for the crackdown were issued by state Home and Health Minister Anil Vij.
“…teams of Food and Drug Administration Department and police conducted raids on hookah bars in Panchkula last night…23 hookahs, 15 types of molasses containing nicotine and seven types of herbal molasses were recovered,” it said. In all, five bars were raided that evening.
Hookahs are prohibited from bars and restaurants in the state. However, many bars and clubs allegedly serve it.
Asked how serving hookah could be illegal when it is a symbol of pride in rural Haryana, State Drug Controller-cum-Joint Commissioner, FDA, Manmohan Taneja told ThePrint over the phone that restaurants are public places and smoking in public places is banned under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (COTPA) Act.
He added that under the Poison Act, 1919, nicotine is notified as a poison.
FIR on two hookah bars
Taneja said the teams allegedly found molasses containing nicotine in two hookah bars during the raids.
“Of these, ten types of molasses containing nicotine were recovered from ‘Alif Laila’ in Sector 11. Six hookahs were also confiscated and an FIR has been registered at the Sector-5 police station under the Poisons Act 1919, Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, COTPA Act, and under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.
He added that five types of molasses containing nicotine were recovered from another hookah bar, ‘The Almas’, in Sector-8. Eleven hookahs were confiscated and an FIR registered at the Sector-7 police station under the Poisons Act 1919, Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, COTPA Act, and provisions of the IPC, he said.
He added that samples were taken from three other hookah bars where the teams found herbal molasses. Of these, two types of molasses were allegedly recovered from ‘Play-n-Pause’, three from ‘Purple Frog’, and another two from ‘Insane Lounge & Bar’, all in Sector-9.
Minister Vij told ThePrint over the phone that he had received complaints from some Panchkula residents recently about certain clubs and restaurants running this illegal business and ‘spoiling their children’.
“We can’t allow unscrupulous elements to play with the future of the younger generation. We will act sternly whenever we receive complaints of such illegal activities,” he said.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)