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Mumbai pubs face police action for violating norms
At least three popular pubs and six 'infamous' dance bars (now orchestra bars) in the western suburbs are going to face the police axe very soon, reports Debasish Panigrahi.
At least three popular pubs and six 'infamous' dance bars (now orchestra bars) in the western suburbs are going to face the police axe very soon.
These are amongst the 16 popular night hangouts between Bandra and Andheri which have come under the police scanner for violating the 1.30 am closure deadline on repeated occasions in the last three months. In fact, police in the region has recommend stern action, including suspension and even permanent cancellation of their licenses.
Additional commissioner of police (west region), Bipin Bihari, who initiated a special drive almost three months ago to pin down the violators, told HT on Tuesday that the establishments which came under the scanner included at least three reputed pubs, six former dance bars while the rest were orchestra bars.
The bars and pubs were mostly concentrated in Bandra-Juhu-Andheri belt. "The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in these zones (VIII, IX and X) were instructed to step up their night rounds to track down the violators," Bihari added.
Bihari said that he had sent a conduct report of these joints and recommended 'stern' to 'very stern' actions against them to the Headquarters branch of the Mumbai police, which is the licensing authority for them. "While for some recommendation has been made for permanent cancellation of the license, in case of others a temporary suspension has been called for as a warning course," he added.
It may be recalled that early on Sunday morning, DCP Zone IX, VK Choube had raided Poison, a popular pub at Bandra as it was found conducting business even at a late hour of 2.50 am, much beyond the deadline. One of the co-owners of the pub, Dillip Vasavrao Joshi had been arrested afterwards. This was the second time that Poison had faced police action for violation of closure deadline in the past three months.
Interestingly, one of the 16 red listed night joints (Laxmi Punjab at Sakinaka) had been found violating the deadline four times in a row.
