Bengaluru City Police Commissioner

Bhaskar Rao

Bangalore

Big Brewsky

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Indiranagar pub owners insist they’re following all norms, residents refuse to give an inch and top cop’s statement has just added fuel to fireOn Wednesday, a few owners of pubs and bars met after an interview of, appeared inTimes. In this, he is quoted as saying that “it is only a sophisticated crowd that is pretending that they have been wronged. They better obey the laws.” He was talking with regard to the protest organised by members of the F&B industry at Monkey Bar that announced its last day of business on November 24. Rao added that he was the licensing authority for places of entertainment and he was not buckling under any pressure.The reason for the standoff between the pub owners and the police is the Licensing and Controlling of Places of Public Entertainment (Bangalore City Order, 2005) which makes it mandatory for all bars and restaurants to get an Occupancy Certificate to play music. Restaurant owners say they’re willing to comply and obey rules but getting an OC is the building owners’ responsibility.After a meeting of restaurant owners, Pravesh Pandey, owner ofsaid, “Point 3 of the order of 2005 states that for playing recorded music, we don’t need any licenses. Based on this, the government gave licenses to shops and establishments, bars and pubs and now, to play music, restaurants are asked to provide OCs. The only question we have is this: Many shops, malls and retails outlets also play recorded music. Ninety per cent of the buildings don’t have an OC. Why aren’t they being targeted?”Meanwhile, the residents of Indiranagar Residents Welfare Association held a press conference on Wednesday about the protest at Monkey Bar. Sneha Nandihal, a member of I Change Indiranagar (ICIN) said the residents are sorry that employees are losing jobs. “The employers should have ensured that all legalities are followed. There is no fire safety or parking facilities in many pubs. The BBMP does not have a sanction plan for Monkey Bar. Manu Chandra was running both the pubs Fatty Bao and Monkey Bar with one excise licence. Loft has music licence, but it does not have ample parking space,” she said.Manu Chandra, chef partner of Monkey Bar said, “We do not have an OC for Monkey Bar, and I never said that we did. We didn’t need it for licenses. We had an excise license for the whole building - but when a new business moved into the centre, we gave up the Fatty Bao liquor license, and applied for a wine license. But let’s not mix this up with compliance. They picked a place that had never created a nuisance for optics. We followed every law that came our way, including installation of larger fire-fighting equipment. But ultimately some things are beyond the operator’s hands. And that’s where it ended.”