CM Uddhav Thackeray

MUMBAI: Four days after his son and toursim minister Aaditya Thackeray announced the Mumbai 24x7 project , Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said it should be introduced selectively and on an experimental basis. It was the first time that the chief minister has expressed his view on the nightlife project.

"It would not be advisable to implement the nightlife proposal across the state, since each city has an independent culture. In my opinion, we can experiment it in Mumbai on a selective basis. I did not like the word 'nightlife'," said the CM, while addressing the bi-annual crime conference of IPS officers, in the presence of deputy CM Ajit Pawar, home minister Anil Deshmukh, minister of state Satej Patil, chief secretary Ajoy Mehta, additi-onal chief secretary Sanjay Kumar and director general of police Subodh Jaiswal.

Thackeray said initially malls, restaurants and hotels may be permitted to remain open for 24 hours in select areas. "Once we grant permission, we can assess the situation, evaluate the impact and address the grievances," he said.

Senior IPS officers said establishments stay open 24x7 in major cities across the world. "All people do not go to five-star hotels for dinner; many prefer malls or small hotels for affordable food," an officer said.

On January 16, Aaditya had met BMC chief, police chief and mall and hotel associations and it was decided that the project would be rolled out on pilot basis in non-residential areas like Kala Ghoda, BKC and Nariman Point and in gated commercial areas from Republic Day. The next day, the plan was opposed by home minister Deshmukh of the NCP who raised security concerns. But, in less than 20 hours, he changed his mind and said it can be done selectively. On Monday, Deshmukh reiterated: "The department will consider nightlife initiative only if it would be able to facilitate tourists, and would be for limited areas like malls and mill compound, not for the entire city."

He said the tourism department may table the proposal before the cabinet on Wednesday, but a senior official said it may make a presentation as Aaditya wants to launch the initiative on January 26.

(With inputs from Sujit Mahamulkar)

