The serving of hookah is banned in Delhi but regular customers and an unwritten code have helped restaurants overcome it.
New Delhi: For restaurants in the national capital up in arms against a National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on serving hookah, support comes from some familiar quarters — loyal customers with a penchant for smoking the various flavours on offer.
“Banning the hookah is the stupidest thing that the government has done. It is illogical and not implementable,” says Aakash Bhatia, 22, as he takes a deep whiff of his ‘brain-freezer’ flavoured hookah.
“If deteriorating air quality is the reason behind banning hookah, then perhaps the government should look at checking pollution in Delhi instead. One understands restrictions for teenagers, but for adults? They should respect our choice,” Tushita Arora, a regular at some of the establishments serving hookah, told ThePrint.
“Instead of a blanket ban, there could have been rooms dedicated to hookah smoking,” she added.
The restaurants and cafes are barred from serving hookah by orders of both the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (May 2017) and the National Green Tribunal (August 2017).
The ministry had issued a notification on 23 May, 2017, in which it prohibited “no service shall be allowed in any smoking area or space provided for smoking” in these commercial establishments. As hookah is served, in effect it cannot be on the menu.
In August 2017, the NGT banned the serving of hookah because of its detrimental health effects, especially on those serving it. In April this year, NGT fined the Delhi government 50,000 rupees for not implementing the order.
Mayank Sharma, 22, believes that the government is participating in what, he says, is another instance of ‘moral policing.’
“I don’t understand the ban. Cigarettes are more harmful to one’s health, yet we see a shop every 100 m in this city. Why ban hookah then? It’s a tradition in many places to sit and smoke it for many families. I have done so with mine.”
A thriving industry
Despite the bans, however, restaurants continue to serve hookah. They follow an unwritten code: Serve it to only regular and loyal customers, and preferably once the sun sets.
When ThePrint spoke to 10 restaurants across the national capital, it found at least seven serving hookah.
“Ever since the football world cup began, we’ve had more and more customers come in to smoke. It’s mostly a group of guys, but we do get the odd couple as well,” a manager at a restaurant in Central Delhi told ThePrint. When asked if they worried about the police conducting surprise raids, he laughs, “Why would they? They come and smoke it too.”
The Delhi Police, however, told ThePrint that 10 hookah bars have been shut across the capital since the ban last year. Several complaints in this regard had even prompted Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik, on June 17, to order the vigilance branch to conduct surprise raids in hotels and restaurants in all 14 districts and check for the presence of active hookah bars.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the BJP-Akali MLA who had filed the petition in the NGT, however alleged that there was a nexus between those serving the product, the police and the government. “All of them benefit from its service. There are Whatsapp groups that send out warnings on when a raid is going to happen,” Sirsa said.
“Not a single restaurant licence has been revoked, neither have they stopped serving hookah. The order from the Ministry of Health explicitly prohibits service in smoking zones. Even if it’s herbal, the restaurants will need some to serve it right? It’s a blanket ban. There are no special licences that can allow the service of hookah in restaurants,” he added.
Restaurants contest ban
In the backdrop of the ban and the Delhi Police action, the restaurants argue that the NGT did not look into other judgments on the issue.
Prakul Kumar of the National Restaurant Association says the ban is at odds with earlier high court judgments.
“Use of tobacco products is governed by the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003. Non-tobacco or herbal hookahs do not fall under the purview of COTPA as clarified by the Delhi High Court in its order dated 3 December, 2012,” he told ThePrint.
Many restaurant owners complained that footfall had reduced ever since the government initiated the crackdown last Sunday. “Some of our regulars still visit us every other day asking for hookah. Unfortunately, we have to turn them away. Hookah is not something that is illegal; I still can’t understand why it’s being treated this way,” an owner of one such an establishment told in North Delhi ThePrint.
He added that he had to let some of his staff members go once the ban came into effect. “You have to trim the fat if footfall reduces. Hookah was a source of livelihood; it was a source of income for them. It’s not like we are forcing them serve it in any case,” he said.
The Delhi Police, however, rule out the existence of any Whatsapp group. “There are no such Whatsapp groups anywhere around the city. DCPs ensure that no illegal activity is carried out in their areas,” a senior police officer told ThePrint.