MUMBAI: The nightlife versus night market issue has pitted the ruling partners in the BMC—Shiv Sena and BJP—against each other. While the Shiv Sena is pushing for a proposal to allow pubs and bars to remain open till early hours along with shopping centres, the BJP wants only shops to get permission to do business till early hours.

Both proposals will soon come up for final discussion in the corporators’ general body meeting.

A few months ago, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray had discussed the proposal of allowing a vibrant nightlife in the city for locals and tourists with the chief minister. He pointed out that as people work late hours, they should be provided late-night entertainment facilities. The Shiv Sena had suggested extending the deadline of restaurants and bars, allowing malls, clubs, chemist shops and convenience stores to oper ate 24x7, and converting non-residential areas, including Kala Ghoda, Nariman Point and Bandra-Kurla Complex, into special entertainment zones at night. But the BJP had cautioned the Sena saying the plan should not be “elite-centric”.

BJP MLA Ameet Satam said, “There are several important issues to discuss instead of bars and pubs. We want a night market because it will benefit the common man and also tourists. We requested the BMC to incorporate our night market request while marking hawking patches so that it can demarcate special hawking patches for night markets.”

Sena corporator Avkash Jadhav said his party will oppose the night market proposal at the general body meeting. “There is no manpower to regulate hawkers during the day, then how will the civic authority manage them at night,” he asked.