Gurgaon pubs forced to shut early

Increasing its vigil ahead of Diwali to curb any incident of lawlessness, the Gurgaon police conducted raids at various pubs at MG Road on Friday and Saturday and forced the bars to close down by the 2am stipulated deadline. Leena Dhankhar reports.

Increasing its vigil ahead of Diwali to curb any incident of lawlessness, the Gurgaon police conducted raids at various pubs at MG Road on Friday and Saturday and forced the bars to close down by the 2am stipulated deadline.

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Officials of the excise and taxation department also conducted parallel raids and booked one of the bars for stocking more liquor than permitted.

Most pubs have the permission to run till midnight but some procure special permissions to serve liquor till 2am.

During the festive season, the footfall of revellers multiplies and deadline rules are violated as visitors throng the pubs till 4am.

An HT team, present at MG Road on both the days, saw that in many cases teams from Sector 29 and DLF City Phase II police stations had to use force to drive away the revellers and vacate the premises.

"We have asked the mall authorities not to let people enter after 1.30am," said inspector Hardeep Hooda at Sector 29 police station. Deputy excise and taxation commissioner (DETC) Aruna Singh said, "We conduct surprise checks in pubs and bars on a regular basis so that they do not buy liquor from outside to maintain their stock."