City pubs bite bullet

City pubs bite bullet
Deccan Herald

No action however, has been initiated against Cubbon Park police inspector Ratnakar Shetty because he was on leave that day, he says.

Sunday morning’s shoot-out at a lounge bar on St Mark’s Road allegedly by Suryakanth, son of Forest Minister Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli in which one Rathan Kumar was injured has set the clock back for pub and bar owners in the City, who were hoping that the government might consider relaxing the 11:30 pm closure time.

A City that lives by the night has very little scope for a night life given the government ruling that all pubs and bars should rinse their glasses and cap the bottles by 11:30 pm.

“But now there’s very little hope for any relaxation. It’s unfortunate that an industry that was struggling for an extension of business hours has been further pushed into a corner. What makes it worse is that while the majority of us maintain the timing, there are a few, who manage to open their places till late hours because of obvious reasons,” says Anantha Narayan, ow-ner of Tuscan Verve, a lounge bar on Rest House Road.

“These incidents are bound to happen if a few places are allowed to open beyond the Cinderella hour because the crowd gathers there instead of evenly spreading out,” he adds.

‘No places of crime’

Amardipta Biswas, owner of Taika, another swish lounge bar on Church Street feels that all this while the Bangalore Restobar Lounge & Discotheque Owners’ Association was claiming that pubs and bars are not necessarily places of crime.

“But that stands heavily contested now. The association does not have any unity. Some of us flout rules and all are made to pay the price. But let’s look at the incident in a positive frame. If the City shuts down at 11:30 pm, there’s bound to aggression. Binge drinking is a sign of repression,” he says.

For a new player like Anupam Mayekar, project leader of Olive Beach, a fine dining restaurant on Wood Street, the shoot-out does not make sense considering Bangaloreans do not have an “attitude for crime. There are too many young people around. I think the City should have a healthy night life.”

Preventive measures

As far as the police are concerned they are making sure that no such further incidents take place.

“In future if such incidents occur, we’ll suspend the Inspector of the concerned police station and take strict action against the pub owner,” says Joint Commissioner (Crime) Narayan Gowda. No action however, has been initiated against Cubbon Park police inspector Ratnakar Shetty because he was on leave that day, he says.