Siddaramaiah government

Lok Sabha elections

Bangalore MLAs

police commissioner

J H Patel

The decision is expected in the next few weeks, after the assembly session is over and before the code of conduct for LS polls kicks inFor many, sooner than later, it may be an occasion to pop open the champagne bottle in one’s favourite restaurant-bar. That too, after 11 pm.The, after several months of ‘looking into’ and ‘considering it’ homilies, is all set to extend the nightlife deadline in the city that works hard and also likes to party hard. According to sources in the government, the decision to do away with the anachronistic 11pm deadline – for both boozing and dining – will be fast-tracked, so much so that the new ‘last order’ timings will be in place before the election code of conduct for thekicks in. The code of conduct is expected in the latter part of February.Both the home department, which heads the police force, and the excise department, which keeps vigil on the liquor trade, are involved in the process. It is no secret thatfrom the ruling party have petitioned chief minister Siddaramaiah about extending the deadline, especially if the state capital wants the tag of being a world city. The chief minister too has come around to accepting the argument for extending Bangalore’s nightlife.As it looks now, the restaurants and bars will be allowed to remain open till 12.30 am or even 1 am, which in effect would mean that the last order hour can be either midnight or 12.30 am. The process for extending the deadline will gather hectic pace, sources said, after the coming assembly session ends around the first week of February.A ‘democratic’ cloak will be given to the entire process. Sources said home minister K J George has been asked to hold meetings with all stake-holders along with excise minister Satish L Jarkiholi and see to what extent the ban can be lifted. The mood in the governments to facilitate the extension before the code of conduct at any cost.Congress leaders agree that they do not expect to reap any electoral benefits from the decision; at the eleventh hour (no pun intended) before the assembly elections the then ruling BJP made a promise to extend the nightlife deadline.“The CM has asked George and Jarkiholi to hold meetings with various groups among the citizens of Bangalore, including youngsters and techies, after the upcoming assembly session gets over. The CM wants to lift the ban after a consultative process. The home minister is also said to be inclined to relax the ban, though thehas expressed some reservations,” a source told Bangalore Mirror.Since 1996, Bangalore, once famous as the ‘Pub city’, has had to shut both eateries and pubs at 11 pm, with the last order for both at 10.30 pm. “All it has facilitated is more hafta for the police. There are rates fixed for every 15-minute delay in shuttering for the day. The CM has also been told all these facts,” a Congress leader said.Infrastructure and information minister R Roshan Baig told Bangalore Mirror: “I have suggested to the CM about four times that at least the eateries in areas like Avenue Road in Chikpet, around the hospitals, the Majestic area, Russell Market in Shivajinagar and IT-BT areas like Whitefield, Electronics City and Koramangala should be kept open as late in the night as possible. Food should be available. It is an essential need in a city like Bangalore and the CM is also positive about it. It should be done on humanitarian grounds and not for LS polls or any such.”Other ministers have echoed this stand. Transport minister and Bangalore district in-charge minister R Ramalinga Reddy said: “At least around bus stands, railway stations and hospitals, where people come in the night, we should allow eateries.”The commissioner of police has gone on record several times that his problem with extending nightlife is the shortage of staff. The police department is said to be managing the whole of Bangalore city with a staff of just 15,000, of which about 3,000 are deployed for VVIP security.Minister of state for food and civil supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao said recruitments to all government departments including the police force had been set in motion. “The vacancies will be filled, but it may take some time for the new recruits to be trained and to join. A lifting of the ban needs to be discussed, but a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore should not have such a restriction. All other cities — Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi — are functional in the night,’’ he contended.The ban was initiated in December, 1992, after the Cauvery riots in Bangalore during the tenure of S Bangarappa as CM. It was, however, strictly enforced only in 1996, during the tenure of, after there was a spate of night crimes, burglaries and thefts in the city.