CUTTACK: Despite there being a ban, illegal hookah parlours continue to thrive here with the nexus between owners and police. As per reports, several hookah parlours are running in a clandestine manner at Jail Road, Mahatab Road, Jobra Road, Khapuria Labour Colony and CDA-Sector 10 localities of the city.
In many parlours, hookahs are allegedly laced with tobacco, nicotine, ganja and other narcotic substances. The owners of the hookah parlours are reportedly wooing school and college students through social media, especially on Instagram and Facebook.
Hookah is covered under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA)-2003, while section 6 of the Act provides protection of children and youth from tobacco use by restricting easy access to them. However, instead of checking the ID cards, the owners of the hookah parlours are allegedly giving access to the students and youngsters.
“These hookah parlours are found to have become a trend among students nowadays. Both boys and girls of impressionable age are finding this ‘very cool’ without realising the dangers of the habit. The hookah parlours are seriously affecting the learning as well as the health of the students,” said a teacher.
According to the locals, after smoking hookah, a girl had reportedly lost her sense inside a parlour at Jail Road following which police in August 2022 had conducted raid and shut down three hookah parlours running inside a mall. But after few months, the hookah parlours were back in business.
“We cannot know as to how the hookah parlours are now being run in the city even though there is no provision on the part of either the Excise or the police or the Cuttack Municipal Corporation to give license for doing business. There seems to be a nexus between the owners and police,” alleged the locals. However, DCP Pinak Mishra said steps would be taken against the illegal operation of hookah bars in the city.