Ban on hookah in bars, restaurants, hotels in Haryana

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced a ban on serving hookah to customers in hotels, restaurants, bars and commercial establishments across the state. However, this will not apply to traditional hookahs used in rural areas.

He made the announcement while addressing the closing ceremony of a state-level 'Cyclothon', organised as part of a drug de-addiction campaign in Karnal, according to an official statement.

The development comes months after Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta had demanded a ban on serving hookah in hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars and night clubs in the state.

In May, Gupta had written to Khattar in this regard. The speaker had described smoking of hookah in bars and clubs as a "burning problem" and expressed deep concern over it.

To promote cycling and encourage eco-friendly transportation, Chief Minister Khattar announced the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran programme.

He also said that licensed builders providing housing facilities to individuals will gift a bicycle to the property owner along with property registry papers, the statement said.

In cases where the beneficiary already possesses a bicycle, HSVP or the builder will present Rs 3,000 in lieu of the cycle, it said.

Khattar had flagged off the Cyclothon on September 1 and it concluded on Monday.

The Cyclothon, which covered approximately 2,000 kilometers, has served as a powerful platform to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of drug addiction, the chief minister said.

He emphasized that while the Cyclothon may have concluded, the battle against drug addiction is far from over, and public awareness efforts must continue for at least a year to completely eradicate this menace.