Bangalore:
The Cinderella hour may be here, but Bangalore won't rush home. The city's nightlife has now officially been extended upto 1am, all seven days a week. This will be tried for a period of 12 months starting today.
The ban on the nightlife had been there for 18 years in the city until March this year, when restaurants serving liquor were open only on Friday and Saturday up to 1 am.
"I think the 1 am deadline is a great idea because our working hours are ever increasing too. So at least we get access to food and may be a drink. But I do also say that we should party responsibly and take care of our security. We should not drink beyond we can handle," said Preeti Rajan, an IT employee.
Pub owners in the city are thrilled. "Business is great and the young crowd is especially thrilled. So is the elderly crowd, the seniors because things are changing and the evening now begins late," said Ramesh, Manager of the popular Social Pub on Church Street.
Several pubs and other restaurants serving liquor have now hired drivers to ensure a drop in case patrons have more than the permissible limits of alcohol. In just the last three months, particularly weekends, the cases of drunken driving have gone up by 45 percent.
The police may have recently got 100 new SUVs to increase patrolling, but the fear is that it is still too little. Night patrol jeeps in Bangalore are as few as 200. In comparison, New Delhi and Mumbai have more than 1000 vehicles for patrolling. Even Chennai and Hyderabad have around 400 and 300 vehicles. The police to people ratio in Bangalore is also as low as 1 cop: 75 persons, least among metro cities.
"The crimes due to drunken brawls have been there. We have booked around five to six cases so far. The government has been kind and sanctioned us 100 vehicles worth Rs 5 crore but our biggest challenge is the man power," said R Auradkar, Bangalore Police Commissioner.