Photo courtesy of kurenie-yad.org
Almaty's bars and restaurants were checked for observance of the new shisha-banning law, Tengrinews.kz reports citing KazPotrebNadzor public union. The raid was held in Almaly and Medeu regions of the city. The total of 34 public places were checked. According to the union's president Dauren Kaissarov, violations were found in almost every second restaurant. Three clients were fined for smoking shisha and 6 fines were issued to owners and administrators of the restaurants. "Some major restaurants still offer shisha and its on their menu. Of course, the guests were unhappy. They said that they didn't know about the law and asked to issue them a warning instead. We hear the same about smoking cigarettes, even though the ban was introduced a long time ago," Kaissarov said. He reminded that the fine for smoking shisha in public places, including night clubs, restaurants, cinemas and any indoor facilities for public entertainment is 1,731 tenge ($11.54) for individuals, 27.6 thousand tenge ($184) for officials and 69 thousand tenge ($460) for legal entities. Kazakhstan Healthcare Ministry introduced a ban on smoking shisha in public places, including night clubs, restaurants, cinemas and any indoor public entertainment facilities on March 14, 2013. In the beginning of April Kazakhstan's Association of Hookah Industry Entrepreneurs called the Ministry for a constructive dialog but Kazakhstan Sanitary-Epidemiological Control Service stated that it was not going to ease up the rules for owners of shisha cafes. By Vladimir Prokopenko
Almaty's bars and restaurants were checked for observance of the new shisha-banning law, Tengrinews.kz reports citing KazPotrebNadzor public union.
The raid was held in Almaly and Medeu regions of the city. The total of 34 public places were checked. According to the union's president Dauren Kaissarov, violations were found in almost every second restaurant. Three clients were fined for smoking shisha and 6 fines were issued to owners and administrators of the restaurants.
"Some major restaurants still offer shisha and its on their menu. Of course, the guests were unhappy. They said that they didn't know about the law and asked to issue them a warning instead. We hear the same about smoking cigarettes, even though the ban was introduced a long time ago," Kaissarov said. He reminded that the fine for smoking shisha in public places, including night clubs, restaurants, cinemas and any indoor facilities for public entertainment is 1,731 tenge ($11.54) for individuals, 27.6 thousand tenge ($184) for officials and 69 thousand tenge ($460) for legal entities.
Kazakhstan Healthcare Ministry introduced a ban on smoking shisha in public places, including night clubs, restaurants, cinemas and any indoor public entertainment facilities on March 14, 2013. In the beginning of April Kazakhstan's Association of Hookah Industry Entrepreneurs called the Ministry for a constructive dialog but Kazakhstan Sanitary-Epidemiological Control Service stated that it was not going to ease up the rules for owners of shisha cafes.
By Vladimir Prokopenko