Police seal 3 hookah bars

The police action followed a  complaint from members of the public that these hookah centres were allowing minors into the premises. The management of the hookah bars also failed to maintain a record of visitors, police claimed. 

Two hookah centres, Rubsta and Shakthi, located in Ki- lapuk and Soul, functioning from TP Chatiram, were closed by a police team headed by Kil- pauk Assistant Commissioner, G Harikumar.  

The joints had not installed any CCTV camer- as and had no proper records of the visitors, which are manda- tory, as per a court ruling.    

There is no direct ban on hookah bars in the city, but such joints have to abide by a list of strict norms. Only a res- taurant  with at least 30 seats are allowed to have a smoking zone, in which the hookah can also be placed. And only .5 per cent of nicotine should be pres- ent in the tobacco used in hook- ah, police noted.