After a district administration ban on hookahs in the city, bar owners stopped serving sheeshas from Tuesday. However, they plan to challenge the order in court.
The bar owners opposed the ban and said that hookahs are served without restrictions in Delhi. Now, they are seeking legal opinion to challenge the administration's directive.
Gurgaon has about 50 hookah bars that offer sheeshas priced between Rs 200-Rs 350. In Delhi, hookahs are served in about 200 bars. Several bars, including Mocha in DLF City, which had started the trend five years back in Gurgaon, have put up signboards outside their premises that read "hookahs are no more available here".
"The government should not impose a blanket ban on hookah. It should regulate the activity and allow service without nicotine or ask us to apply for licences. We are planning to move court against the directive," said Ankit Bahadur, director, Mocha.
Hookahs were also removed from Vapour, Jolly Rodgers and many other bars in Metropolitan Mall, DLF City Centre Mall and Sahara Mall on the MG Road.
The administration said on Tuesday that police have all the rights to raid or seal any bar, if hookahs are found.