Brijesh Jha, deputy commissioner of zone-1 submitted a survey report as per the previous order of the Gujarat high court to make a survey of the number of hookah bars.
The city police on Friday informed the Gujarat high court that most of the city's hookah bars have separated the eating area and smoking zone on their premises. However they have collected samples of charcoal and other substances using for smoking hookahs from the 29 hookah bars functioning in the western part of the city.
Brijesh Jha, deputy commissioner of zone-1 submitted a survey report as per the previous order of the Gujarat high court that directed the cops to make a survey of the number of hookah bars and check how many of them had separate smoking facilities.
According to the survey report, there are 34 hookah bars in the city, out of which two could not be surveyed as they were closed down, and another three were being renovated. The report said that all hookah bars come under the category of restaurants, and all of them have separated their smoking zones from the eateries.
According to the report, the police have collected samples of substances from all the hookah bars and have sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to check if nicotine is used or not. The FSL report is now awaited.
Meanwhile, Nandish Chudagar, the counsel representing the hookah bar association said that they are not denying the presence of tobacco in hookahs but it isn't in as much quantity as can be hazardous to health. The court then asked the government pleader to file the report as an affidavit and adjourned the case on June 17.
During the last hearing, Bhushan Oza, who appeared before the high court on behalf of an NGO called Virasat, submitted that as per the Cigarettes and other tobacco products Act, 2003, smoking is banned in public places. There should be separate rooms to smoke cigarettes or other tobacco-based products in hotels .
He also mentioned that according to the police department there are 19 functional hookah bars in the city while the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) mentions the figure as 21.
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