Top sources in the home department said the new policy would make it mandatory to procure a special licence for hookah parlours.
Soon, Maharashtra will have a new law to regulate hookah bars. The decision has been taken in the wake of repeated complaints being received from the public over hookah bars mushrooming all over the state. Top sources in the home department said the new policy would make it mandatory to procure a special licence for hookah parlours. At present, such parlours come under the Maharashtra Police Act rules and Tobacco Control Act of the Central government, which do not mention anything specific about hookah.
"We are fine-tuning the process and are hopeful that the proposal would become a law in the winter session," said a senior officer.
The demand to have a policy to regulate hookah bars was raised in the last winter session in Nagpur as well, after 10 youths and two women were arrested from such parlours in the city. It is reported that the hookah parlour was serving customers till 4am, way beyond the 1.30am deadline.
The proposed policy will set criteria such as age limit for visitors, bar timings and other necessary concerns. There will also be a mechanism to check the quality and toxicity of the substance served in hookah. Hookah lounges have been operating according to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) rules, set by the Centre, in keeping with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
The state then put a blanket ban on hookah bars in 2011, after Shubha Raul, the then Mumbai mayor, launched an agitation against them. She even staged a dharna outside popular joints and filed a petition to ban the hookah parlours.
Acting on the petition, Bombay High Court asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to reset the rules. Many other states then followed suit, causing the hookah lounge business to shut down. The city had to shut close to 400 hookah lounges.
The bars, however, came back after the Supreme Court recognised that the BMC could not interfere with them. The law prohibits smoking in public places, except in designated smoking rooms in hotels and restaurants. The apex court pointed out that the law permits the sale of cigarettes and tobacco to adults in areas outside a 100yard radius of educational institutions.
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