Siliguri bans hookahs in bars, pubs and restaurants : Metropolitan Police in action

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 31 Dec 2022 | Darjeeling: The Siliguri Metropolitan Police has banned Hookahs in bars, pubs and restaurants in Siliguri from Saturday. "You are hereby directed not to use hookah in your pub and bar. 

It should be stopped with immediate effect, otherwise strong action will be initiated against you," stated notices served and pasted in restaurants and pubs on Saturday. 

"We have issued notifications to all police stations under the Siliguri Metropolitan Police to enforce a hookah ban," said Akhilesh
Chaturvedi, Commissioner, Siliguri Metropolitan Police. "The chemicals used in hookahs in bars are hazardous to health. Nowhere in the 221 types of trade license do we have hookah bars. 

The traders obtained other online licenses and started serving hookahs. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation did not issue permits for hookah bars," Mayor Firhad Hakim had stated earlier this month after it was banned in Kolkata. Incidentally with the bars, pubs and restaurants expecting a huge rush with New Year's eve and New Year, the ban caught the owners on a sticky wicket. Mixed reactions emerged, revolving around the ban. 

Many rushed to local police stations requesting that the ban be enforced after the two days of celebrations. 

"We have to honour the government's decision," stated Somnath Saha, owner of a bar. There have been allegations that intoxicating substances were being served in the name of hookah in some places in Siliguri. "We welcome the decision of the police. It is for the benefit of the public," stated Mayor Gautam Deb, Siliguri Municipal Corporation. 

Courtesy & source: Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/siliguri-bans-hookahs-in-bars-503982