Gandhinagar cyber cafes on Special Operations Group radar

The Special Operations Group (SOG) in Gandhinagar will check all cyber cafés in the state capital from Friday and ask those not having requisite permission to shut down. Some 20 cyber cafes were given relaxation to operate in August this year till they obtained the licence. But, now SOG is in no mood to let them continue without licence. 

The move comes in the wake of a meeting called by district collector to analyse the status of SOG's previous order in which all cyber cafes were asked to acquire permission to run their business in Gandhinagar. Many cyber cafes had, however, not taken the notification seriously and consequently did not apply for the licence. 

According to SOG, cyber cafes must have a licence to operate in the city. For the licence, they need to fill an application form available at the collector's office. As an interim relaxation, they were allowed to remain open till they obtained the licence.

Café owners, however, claim that there was no clarity on who will issue the licence and check it later. "No one knew from where to get the forms. Hence, many cyber cafes haven't acquired the licence yet," said Rajan Vazirani, owner of Cyber Town.