The Maharashtra government on Thursday banned hookah bars across Maharashtra with immediate effect. The notification was issued by the government after the President assented to the bill passed by state legislature in April this year.
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After Gujarat, Maharashtra is the second state to impose this ban with immediate effect. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the amendments of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA), 2003.
Under the act, a fine of ₹1 lakh will be imposed and imprisonment of up to three years will be there. Also, the amendment has made the offence a non cognisable.
After the fire at Kamala mills in December 2017, which was caught by Hookah parlour in which 14 people died of suffocation, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis insisted on a blanket ban on hookah parlours across the state.
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The government planned to ban hookah parlours in January 2018 as well. Reportedly, activists have expressed concerns about how comprehensively the ban will be enforced. The ban was imposed earlier as well by the authorities have said that the ban was not fully implemented owing to the dispute over the interpretation of the court order.