An image showing hookahs.
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Bengaluru: The state government has issued an immediate ban on the sales, consumption, possession, and advertising of hookah products in Karnataka, effective from Wednesday.
The government notification issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare noted that hookah bars not only risk the spread of communicable diseases such as herpes, tuberculosis, hepatitis and Covid-19 due to the direct contact with one's mouth but they also pose fire safety risks and violate fire safety norms.
The order has outlined how hookah consumption in hotels, bars and restaurants have made food consumption unsafe for the general public and could negatively impact their health.
Therefore, in the interest of the general public's health, the government has banned hookah with and without tobacco or nicotine, flavoured and unflavoured hookah, sheesha and molasses hookah, and all other types of hookah with immediate effect.
Those violating the order would be booked under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Food Security and Standards Act, 2006, the Karnataka Poisons (Possession and Sale) Rules, 2015, the Indian Penal Code and the Fire Force Act.