MoEF, Delhi govt response sought on hookah bars

■ NGT hearing MLA’s plea

Restaurants and bars in the city, which permit hookah smoking, have been told by the National Green Tribunal ( NGT) that they are not to use any tobacco material in the hookahs.

The National Green Tribunal had on October 9 issued notices and sought replies from the Union ministry of environment and forests, the Delhi government, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and various hookah bar owners on a plea filed by BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, seeking immediate ban on hookah bars in the capital.

The tribunal took exception over nonappearance of 13 restaurants and bars in the city before it despite notices being served to them. It had asked the authorities to strictly regulate these restaurants and bars and warned that it would order their closure in case of any environmental pollution.

The restaurants and bars, in pursuance to the notices issued to them, said that they don’t support the use of tobacco of any kind within their premises.

The matter will now be taken up on December 12. Mr Sirsa had contended that the air quality standards in public places such as restaurants and bars were higher than the prescribed norms.

Referring to the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008, the plea said these rules were being openly flouted by various restaurants and hookah bars wherein hookahs, containing tobacco products, were being permitted to be smoked in open spaces without defining any part of the premises as a smoking area/ zone.