Click to play videoMumbai: After the ban on smoking in public places, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss is now taking on the hookah parlours.
Health experts also ratify Ramadoss' stand claiming that hookah despite the lack of nicotine can cause great harm to the smoker's health.
“The smoke and vapour tend to enter the mouth, pass the throat, the lungs, the stomach and kidneys and hit the whole system and hence obviously is dangerous,” says MD, Centre for Global Health Research, Dr. Prabhat Jha.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation has already brought hookah parlours under the purview of the Cigarettes and Tobacco Act.
The corporation has been conducting raids at various hookah parlours in the city and revoking the licenses of parlours that do not have proper documentation.
The corporation is also getting tough on those located near schools and those that do not have a separate smoking and non-smoking zones. Mumbai's mayor says Ramadoss' statement is a vindication of this campaign.
Even as the will from the 'centre' trickles down 'locally' the spoke in the wheel could be a law that permits smoking if a closed enclosure is provided. The question is will Ambumani Ramadoss, the health minister be able to pull this off before the elections.
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