The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to shut down hookah bars in the areas under it and a letter has been sent to the commissioner of the Bidhannagar police seeking the police’s “intervention and help”.
The civic body has decided not to issue any licence for hookah bars. An official said the BMC was likely to issue a notification on Thursday declaring all hookah bars as illegal commercial establishments.
The ban will come into effect in all 41 wards of the civic body, which includes Salt Lake, Baguiati and parts of Rajarhat, the official said.
The move follows an announcement by Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim that no hookah bars would be allowed in the Kolkata municipal area. Hakim had said on Friday that no licence would be issued for such bars and all existing licences would stand cancelled.
The mayor said on Saturday that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) would issue a notice within a fortnight banning all hookah bars in the city.
Kolkata police have raided a number of establishments and arrested four people for allegedly offering hookah to their patrons.
A senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said their decision on closing down hookah bars was based on the KMCs decision to ban all such bars in its area.
Sabyasachi Dutta, chairman of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said he had sent a letter to the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate requesting their help in enforcing the civic authorities’ decision on hookah bars.
“We don’t want hookah bars to function. That is why we have sought help from the police and will soon start a crackdown,” he said.
The manager of a café that serves hookah opposite City Centre told The Telegraph on Monday that till 6pm they had not received any intimation from the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation or the police about the ban on serving hookah.
“We still have hookah on our menu. If the authorities want us not to serve hookah, we will abide by it,” said the manager, who did not wish to be named.
The owner of a hookah bar in Rajarhat said that most hookah bars did not have a licence from the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to serve hookah. The owners, he said, are running hookah bars following a verbal nod from the local police stations.
“No separate licence is issued for a hookah bar,” said a senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
In Kolkata, the bars that have been raided by the police are located on Bidhan Sarani in the Tallah police station area, Muzaffar Ahmed Street in the Park Street police station area and Rajdanga Main Road in Kasba.
The four persons who were arrested in the city have been booked under Sections 188 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 20(2) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003. All the sections are bailable.
