BENGALURU: The Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a Bill to ban hookah bars and the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to those below the age of 21 across the state.
“The State Government has already issued a notification to ban hookah bars against which a few approached the court… but the court did not grant any stay,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundurao said.
The Bill that becomes an Act also prohibits the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to those below the age of 21 from the earlier age bar of 18 years. The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (Central Act 34 of 2003) in its application to Karnataka has been amended and passed. It will prohibit the use of tobacco products in public places, and prohibit to open or run hookah bars in eateries or restaurants.
Under the new law, no person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit the sale of cigarettes or any other tobacco products to any person who is under the age of 21 and in an area within a radius of 100m of any educational institution in loose or in single sticks.
The offense, though bailable, is punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to three years and with a fine which shall not be less than Rs 50,000 but may extend up to Rs 1 lakh. The penalty for selling the cigarettes within the prescribed 100m has been hiked from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000, the minister added.
But a hotel having 30 rooms or a restaurant having a seating capacity of 30 persons or more and in airports, a separate provision for smoking may be provided. “The objective is to ensure the health of the public, including passive smokers, especially with rising cases of lung cancer. For some sections of the youth, hookah became a fashion statement that is hazardous (to society). There is a chance of narcotics getting involved in it,” Gundurao said.
Senior BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar extended “special thanks” to Gundurao as banning hookah bars will safeguard the youth from falling prey to the hazardous addiction. But he criticized the decision to permit separate enclosures for cigarette smokers in a few public places like airports.
The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka, while welcoming the Bill, suggested that the Act should impose a penalty of Rs 10,000 for the sale of tobacco within 100m radius of schools and colleges.