Even bars will join 1 a.m. party soon
Top officials have given nod for extending deadline for bars and pubs, only notification is awaited
Since March 2014, the deadline for bars and eateries has been 11.30 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
STAFF REPORTER
BENGALURU: The city may finally be on its way to getting a vibrant night life.
The decks are,being clear-ed for extending the dead-line for bars and pubs till 1 a.m. ‘on all days of the week. Both the home and excise departments have cleared the proposal.
Sources said that the order for the same is expected to be issued this week.
Since March 2014, the deadline for bars and eater-ies has been 11.30 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on Fri-days, Saturdays and Sundays. Cops had opposed extending the deadline to 1 a.m. throughout the week, but the scenario has changed over the last two years.
Police Commissioner N.S. Megharik, who recently ex-tended the deadline for eat-eries to 1 a.m. through the week, said that he had clear-ed the proposal for extension of deadline for bars and res-taurants too. “Once we allow eateries to be open till 1 a.m., it makes little difference for us. In fact, it will be difficult for cops on the ground to dif-ferentiate between bar and restaurants and eateries,” he said.
Excise Commissioner S. R. Umashankar told The Hin-du, “After the city police commissioner assured of ad-equate security, I have rec-ommended to the govern-ment to extend the deadline till 1 a.m. on all days. The gov-ernment is expected to take a call on the issue soon.”
However, the pub owners are cautious. “We want to wait for the government or-der before rejoicing. We wel-come the fact that the gov-ernment finally thinks of us as a mature society, which can handle a late night dead-line for bars,” said Ashish Kothare, President of Asso-ciation of Bar and Restau-rant, Pub and Hotels, Benga-luru.
Pubs staying open till 1 a.m. makes no sense without-access to other shops and business establishments. Besides, we also need public transport to get back home
— Neil Kamat,
Jayanagar resident
Extension of deadline will be great. Currently, our pub crawls on weekdays hardly see participants, as they find it tough to reach anywhere by 8 p.m.
— Sai Shashank,
Community Manager,
Bengaluru Pub Crawl
