Don’t sit tight, party till 1am this New Year

This development will certainly cheer up Bangalore’s revellers. City police commissioner Shankar M Bidari has allowed licenced bars and restaurants in Bangalore to remain open and serve liquor till 1am on January 1 to allow New Year’s Eve revellers to party into the night.

A general no-objection issued by Bidari on Thursday stated that bars need to obtain the necessary permission from the state excise department to avail keeping their premises open for an additional one hour. But hotels, eating houses and restaurants which do not serve liquor may remain open for the additional hour without any permission from the excise department.

The order, while allowing for a 1-hour extension for New Year’s Eve celebrations, stipulates that bars, restaurants and pubs should ensure that no nuisance or disturbance is caused to the neighbours on account of music that may be played “during the celebrations or any other account”.

Despite this general no-objection issuance, the choice for Bangaloreans to celebrate in their own city has narrowed down with the city police strictly clamping down on dancing in parties at various entertainment locations.

The police are insisting that only those locations with licences for discotheques will be allowed to host dancing.
In fact, the police are quite strict on not allowing any disc jockey to operate in any restaurant which doesn’t have a licenced discotheque.

Not surprisingly, the restrictions have forced many to pack their bags. “Most of the regular discotheques in the city do not have a licence. I have packed my bags and am moving out of town to bag a DJ contract for New Year’s,” said a fairly well-known DJ who refused to be named.