After all the drama and speculation, the city police, 36 hours before New Year Eve celebrations begin, have given permission to restaurants and night clubs to remain open till 1.30 am.
After all the drama and speculation, the city police, 36 hours before New Year Eve celebrations begin, have given permission to restaurants and night clubs to remain open till 1.30 am. Even though the state government granted permission till 5 am, the police have truncated it to 1.30 am.
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| Cheers to that! The police have allowed New Year's celebrations to continue an hour beyond the 12.30 am party deadline. FILE PIC |
Hotel and restaurant owners and pub owners have welcomed the decision since the earlier deadline was supposed to be 12.30 am. Though the music will stop by 12 am, you can eat and drink till 1.30 am without the attendants or police interrupting.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) Sanjeev Singhal confirmed the extension. It was Police Commissioner Meeran Borwankar who granted it. "We will publish the timing and the concerned people will be informed."
Pune Restaurant and Hoteliers Association (PRAHA) members have been following up with the police to extend the deadline from 12.30 am since the one-hour extension will prove beneficial for them.
Ganesh Shetty, president of PRAHA said, "We can serve customers till 1.30 am. We had met the concerned officials and explained our point of view, which they have now accepted. We will get an official notice by Thursday evening and we are happy about the deadline."
The extension of the deadline will help restaurants generate 20 per cent additional business. "We want the restaurants to be opened till 1.30 am and not beyond that.
This is because the family crowd prefers staying till 1 or 1.30 am at the latest. We want to avoid the drunk crowd who come after that so there will be no chances of nuisance being created," adds Shetty.
Meanwhile Vijay Kutty, president, Pune District Wine Trader's Associations said that the extension will result in 30 per cent additional business.
