BJP requests police chief not to allow city bars open till 3 am
NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on Sunday requested Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana to not allow opening of bars in the city till 3 am as the Arvind Kejriwal government’s move can lead to law and order problems, an official statement said.
The request comes after the Delhi government last week took a policy decision to allow bars to serve liquor till 3 am to make city’s nightlife more happening.
Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Sunday in a letter to Police Commissioner Asthana requested him to not accept the proposal of the Delhi government to allow bars and liquorserving restaurants to open till 3 am as “it’s not in public interest”.
“On the one hand the decision to allow liquor service till 3 am can lead to break down of Delhi’s law & order condition, while on the other it can prove fatal for the citizens, especially youth, by affecting their health and economic condition apart from crushing their family life,” the statement quoted Kapoor as saying in the letter to the commissioner.
The Delhi BJP spokesperson further took a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying Kejriwal came to power in Delhi with a pledge to change the administrative system of Delhi.
“Today, he has achieved it by ensuring that liquor will be served in the city for 18 hours a day while people will get tap water for hardly 30 minutes a day,” Kapoor said in the statement.
The Excise Policy that came into force from November 2021 recommended that the timings of operation of bars may be brought at par with neighbouring cities.
In the National Capital Region (NCR) towns of Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana, bars are allowed to open till 3 am. However, in Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, bars are open till 1 am.