City pubs violate CCTV rules

City pubs are yet to link their CCTV cameras with the excise department officials, even though it has been more than two months since the excise minister ordered them to do so, following the raid on the Radisson pub.

The city has witnessed major incidents involving pubs including the Jubilee Hills gang rape case even after the order was issued.

Officials from the excise and prohibition department said the CCTV cameras were yet to be linked and that they would be setting up control rooms to facilitate the footage feed linked with the cameras at the pubs in the city, as instructed by the Telangana excise minister P. Srinivas Goud.

Officials instructed pub owners to add more CCTV cameras to cover all blind spots as well. The minister had also asked the pub management to maintain strict rules about allowing minors and maintaining sound levels.

“The timings for the pub are till 1 am on weekend’s and till 12 am on weekdays. If found violating this, the management’s licence will be suspended and the responsible staffer will be pulled up,” the official instructed.

Excise deputy commissioner T. David Ravikanth said officials would be setting up control rooms in all excise superintendent offices.

“The Excise offices at Shamshabad, Saroornagar, Malkajgiri, Medchal, Hyderabad and Secunderabad will have to be equipped to facilitate the footage feed after linking the CCTV cameras at pubs in the city. We are working on that as of now and are also in touch with the pub managements about these developments and the work is under progress,” he said.

During the meeting, excise commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmed said the cameras should be monitored in the surveillance room of the pub by an employee. “The pubs should ensure that footage is saved up to one-and-ahalf months. Since the washrooms are the only area with maximum privacy and no surveillance, the management should sensitise their staff to keep a close watch on those using washrooms and ensure no drug abuse is taking place,” said the official.

Meanwhile, officials from the State Task Force (STF) said in the meanwhile, they had taken up a fact finding exercise.

“We are making sure if places in the city, including pubs and bars, are following the norms. We are conducting routine decoy operations at these premises as part of the exercise,” officials said.