Bangalore civic body raid snuffs out hookah bars

The health department of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) seized seven hookahs from two hotels on Friday.
Though a series of raids were conducted, most of the hotels had been tipped-off about the initiative.

BBMP commissioner, Siddaiah, had earlier directed the zonal health officers to raid restaurants doubling up as hookah bars. The commissioner issued the directive after the matter was raised in the council on Tuesday.

“We conducted raids on eight restaurants in Shantinagar range and seized seven hookahs. We have issued notices to these hotels for keeping hookahs illegally. We will keep a strict vigil over all the hotels,” said medical health officer (east zone) Dr Bhagyalakshmi said.

The raids were conducted on tip-offs. Java City and Hyda Hotel on Lavelle Road, two Jimmy’s cafes in Indiranagar 2nd Stage, The Beach on 100ft Road, Cuppa of Coffee on 60ft Road, HAL 2nd Stage, were the hotels that were raided. However, most hotels outsmarted BBMP’s raiding team.

“We recovered hookahs from Java City and Hyda Hotel. The rest of the restaurants, who were supposedly running illegal hookah bars, had prior information of the raids,” a health officer said.