Karnataka to ban hookah bars, raise legal age to buy tobacco products to 21

“Hookah bars are a gateway to drugs. Youngsters aged between 12 and 27 visit these places and get addicted to drugs. There is no way to verify what sort of substances are being given to them in the name of flavours. Therefore, the state government has decided to ban hookah bars. We want to make Karnataka hookah-free,” he said, while remarking that several unlicensed hookah bars have mushroomed in Bengaluru which have become a den for substance abuse.

Accompanied by Sports and Youth Empowerment Minister B Nagendra, Rao said that in the new amendment, the sale of tobacco products under the 100-metre buffer zone of places such as educational institutions, places of worship, healthcare institutions, parks, anganwadi centres, and public offices will be banned.

Currently, COTPA prohibits smoking in public places and the sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions.

The BJP-led state government last year also announced the formulation of a policy to ban hookah bars across Bengaluru. “If hookah bars operating in the city are found using banned substances, they will be dealt with severely,” former Home Minister Araga Jnanendra had said in March 2022.

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