Bhubaneswar: Worried over mushrooming hookah bars, the state police have asked all the district police administrations to conduct raids at these joints.

Director-general of police (DGP) R.P. Sharma had directed district police set ups and the commissionerate police to conduct raids and send hookah samples to the State Forensic Laboratory here for chemical examination.

The development came after a police raid on 10 hookah bars in Bhubaneswar and found nicotine in hookah samples. Most hookah-joint owners claim to sell hookah without nicotine content.

"The use of unfiltered tobacco is dangerous to health and youths are most vulnerable to get addicted. The substance used in the hookahs may be either nicotine products or charas, ganja of other psychotropic substances, which can addict youths. So, ascertaining the chemical used in hookahs is the need of the hour," said Sharma.

Sharma has asked the police to take appropriate penal action under Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (Cotpa), Food Safety and Standards Act and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Under the Cotpa, there is prohibition on smoking tobacco products in non-smoking zones. The act also prohibits the sale of tobacco products to minors and in an area within 100-yard radius of educational institutions. Doctors said though most hookah smokers think it is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, the ill-effects of hookah are similar to that of cigarettes.

"The government of India issued a guideline on September 21 with emphasis on protection of children and young people from getting addicted to tobacco. The guideline will be referred and implemented for hookah bars," said Sharma.

Bhubaneswar has more than three dozen hookah bars. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had conducted raids on four hookah bars at Saheed Nagar on November 6. The civic body has also mulled to cancel the trade licences of the hookah bars in Bhubaneswar.