The lack of strict rules and regulations for bars has been creating problems in the Millennium City. There is no cap on the number of bars a mall can have.
The third floor of Sahara Mall alone has six bars and pubs in a row, a regular site of violence and nuisance.
The excise and taxation department has discovered that the Ignite Club where a fight broke out between bouncers and a group of youngsters on Saturday night is running on a bar licence issued in a different name.
Anurag Rastogi, commissioner, Haryana excise and taxation department, said the law did not describe the definite number of bars to be set up in a particular mall.
A Taneja, president of Sahara Mall Retailers’ Association, lamented that repeated requests to the mall management to check the nuisance occurring due to these bars on the third floor fell on deaf ears.
“Customers avoid visiting the third floor as it has become a site for brawls. We also have stopped going to the third floor fearing that we might be hit,” he added.
SB Sharma, deputy excise and taxation commissioner, admitted that the bar licence was issued in the name of Ronak-e-Punjab and the bar was running in the name of Ignite. But he did not find anything wrong in it.
{{/usCountry}}SB Sharma, deputy excise and taxation commissioner, admitted that the bar licence was issued in the name of Ronak-e-Punjab and the bar was running in the name of Ignite. But he did not find anything wrong in it.
{{/usCountry}}“We have been getting the licence fee on time, so we have no problem with whosoever is running the bar,” he added.