Smoking not allowed near food serving area: BBMP

Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike will cancel trade licences of all bars and restaurants with smoking zones if they do not abide by the safety norms.

Any pubs, hotels, bars and restaurants which have seating capacity of over 30 and wish to create a designated smoking area should follow the norms set up by the board. There should be adequate number of exhaust fans and ensure that the tobacco smoke does not enter any other room. They should get NOC from the BBMP Tobacco Control Cell.

In the circular it clearly mentioned that smoking should not be allowed in any area that serves food, alcohol or any other items. 

Mayor Sampath Raj said, “Recent studies have shown that there is no safe-level of second-hand smoking. We are concerned about the health of the staff working in hotels and bars and customers, especially women and children in light of these scientific evidences.” We are confident that hotels and bars associations in city will welcome and support this initiative, he added.

BBMP ruling party leader Shiva Raj said, “It is necessary that Designated Smoking Areas must be removed as most of the facilities providing this do not follow the norms as specified by the law and put non-smokers at risk.”