Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate Police today conducted raid on a hookah bar at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar for running illegally and using banned tobacco products. Hookahs and banned tobacco products containing nicotine were seized during the raid. The owner of the bar however refuted the allegations and said that the products were “herbal.”
The raids are part of the Commissionerate Police’s special drive to curb tobacco menace among the youths. “Though, the hookah bars claimed that they were using herbal materials, the seized items showed presence of nicotine. The other major concern for the police remains the unchecked entry of minors at such joints,” said a police official.
It is not for the first time that hookah bars in the city have come under Commissionerate Police scanner over sale, consumption and promotion of tobacco and nicotine products.
As part of the drive that started in November last year raids were conducted on several Hookah bars at Saheed Nagar, Chandrasekharpur and Infocity area in Bhubaneswar under violation of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003.
In January, Commissionerate Police raided various hookah bars in Infocity, Saheed Nagar and Kharvel Nagar areas and penalized the management for using banned products in form of flavored substance.