Binoy Valsan

Bengaluru

Karnataka

Ashok Sadhwani

The music dies tonight. So does the clinking of the flutes, the boisterous after-work “cheers” where bosses are dissed and former colleagues are missed. For 731 bars in the city, June 30 will prove to be Friday the 13th.There’s massive confusion all around; excise officials either did not know what, where or when action will be taken or were unwilling to share details of the action plan. Pub owners were clueless; some were angry that the government just sat on its hands after the Supreme Court order and did not bail them out.On Friday night, the axe will fall on all liquor vends and bars on Brigade Road, MG Road and Church Street. Some of’s iconic pubs will stop serving liquor; among them are Hard Rock Café, Pecos Mojo, 13th Floor, Wyt restopub and The Pub World. The new microbreweries in town seem to be safe (Biere Club, Arbor Brewing Company, Bangalore Brew Works etc); so are Skyye Bar, Shiro (and other UB City bars). Sunny’s and Smokehouse Deli on Lavelle Road will also continue to serve guests as usual.There has been no word from the government on what it plans to do or save the hundreds of jobs that will go once the Supreme Court order kicks in from July 1.“Thegovernment was sleeping. They should have acted when the SC started dealing with the case. How could we have known that MG Road and Brigade Road were national highways? This will bring us to the footpath. So many jobs will go. What about their families. They have invested their lifetime into this business,” said, owner of The Pub World, and a pioneer of pub culture in the city (he opened one of the first pubs in Bengaluru).Another pub owner who was crestfallen that the government did not bail them out said that his joint made no sense without liquor and that “invisible trucks were plying on the highway outside his pub”. He was referring to St Marks Road.On Thursday, as pub owners and employees made frantic calls to excise department officials, but did not get any clear answers. Till late in the evening, officials were seen visiting various clubs, measuring the distance from the highway.An excise department official said on the condition of anonymity that they will now visit the liquor vends that come under the purview of the SC order and freeze the excess stock. This exercise will begin from Saturday morning.Of the 731 vends that will shut down, 244 are in Bengaluru South excise division (which comprises Koramangala, Electronics City, BTM Layout, Jayanagar, Adugodi etc); 222 are in east Bengaluru division (Ulsoor, Ashoknagar, Indiranagar, KR Puram etc); 140 in north division (Hebbal and surrounding areas); and 125 in west division (Kengeri, JP Nagar and Banashankari).