The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Restaurants, clubs on ECR come under scanner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 02, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Restaurants, clubs on ECR come under scanner

Police say they are only against drunken driving and liquor joints staying open later than permitted, writes L Srikrishna

Come weekends, and East Coast Road is the favoured destination for tipplers in the city.

After slogging the whole week in office or elsewhere, youngsters head for the intoxicating environs of the ECR to grab a drink and let their hair down. It's not just the IT sector that parties; plenty of others in the corporate world too prefer to relax after a stress-filled week. The culture of organising private parties is not really new to Chennai. But what is worrying the police is the time the parties end and the young crowd returns home.

As one senior police officer put it, there is no ban on drinking, but when they drink and drive, "we catch them."

Drunken driving is not only unsafe, as the fatalities on the ECR can testify to. It can and has resulted in accidents, with people ending permanently disabled or worse. But when police resort to vigorous checks, hoteliers object to it stating that the police were affecting their business. "The youth look at us like an enemy. But what if something goes wrong, and we are blamed for inaction," asks the officer. Quoting several instances of fatalities after youngsters take to the wheel on the ECR in an inebriated mood, he said that the police would have no objection if a person who had not consumed liquor drove the vehicle.

Some hoteliers agree. A restaurant manager said that for regular clients they offer valet parking as well as arrange drivers to drop them home for a price in the late hours.

What is causing concern is the enforcement of closing times. Hoteliers say the police want them to close by 11 p.m., when business is just picking up. However, the officer maintains, "We will be strict with the timings."

Serving liquor without a licence will also not be permitted at any cost, he warns. Let them go to the authorities concerned or the government and plead their case, another officer in ECR territory suggests.

"We have been carrying out raids. Even on Thursday, when we searched the restaurants, we found liquor bottles meant for sale in TASMAC outlets. This is illegal and moreover, some of the joints had stuff, which is usually available only in Pondicherry and Goa," the officer said.

When many parties end in brawls, restaurant managers describe them away as "squabbles among friends." In such cases, police are forced to investigate the hotel employees and even arrest them for dereliction of duty.

A permanent solution would be for the government to announce a comprehensive policy, with a code of conduct for nightlife. The policy could identify certain zones exclusively for restaurants to entertain guests beyond 11 p.m. This would also enable police to focus on those areas, a retired police officer says.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu