Mumbai most party hearty

Bring in 2010 on a high note drink till 5 AM and headbang till 3 AM while rest of India heads home by 1 AM

Bring in 2010 on a high note drink till 5u00a0AM and headbang till 3 AM while rest of India heads home by 1 AM

On the last day of 2009 and in the first few hours of the New Year, Mumbai will do what no other city can. Drink till 5 am!

That's a four-and-a-half hour extension of the regular deadline. And that's not all the loudspeaker deadline for private, indoor parties, has been extended to 3 am, from the existing 10 pm.

Compare this with other metros both New Delhi and Bangalore have a 1 am deadline for serving alcohol, while Pune is slightly better off with a 1.30 am deadline.

FL4 Licence

In a recent notification issued by the state home ministry, anyone who holds a FL4 licence (one-day party licence) can serve liquor till 5 am on December 31.



To play music till 3 am, a simple no objection certificate (NOC) from the police is required.
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"Those who do not abide by the law will have to face strict action by the excise department," explained N N Mudiraj, superintendent of state excise department (suburban district).

Another excise officer revealed that the 3 am deadline is for public performance licence holders (for music) while the 5 am deadline will be for FL4 licence holders (party licence).

While restaurants and pubs do have a permit licence, the deadline extension requires the NOC and the FL4 licence.

But pub owners are still not happy. Sushanth Kamath, director, Boots Pub in Colaba, grumbled that getting the licence was always a problem.

"Even if we do get the licence, nobody will party if there is no music. And when people start trooping out, who will buy alcohol? The government should have had a 4 am deadline for both music and liquor," said Kamath.

DRINK ANDu00a0MAKE MERRY: The FL4 party licence holders can serve drinks till 5 am on December 31.

Without the FL4 you cannot keep the premises open after 3 am.

Added Narayan Alva, president of the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR), which has more than 8,000 restaurants and hotels as members, "The excise department's initiative to serve liquor till 5 am on New Year's eve is pointless.

If the police do not permit us to keep our establishments open after 3 am, what's the point of allowing us to serve alcohol till 5 am? We will appeal to the home department to allow us to remain open till 5 am," said Alva angrily.

Great Idea

Vikram Mehta, CEO of Red Om Entertainment, who is organising a party at Taj Land's End, Bandra, has welcomed the move saying, "We will abide by the rule, as 3 am is the perfect deadline for party-goers and therefore it's absolutely ok to stop playing music."

Meanwhile, party-goers are all for the new deadline. "I am happy that at least unlike last year, the government has thought of keeping bars open.

It would have been better had music been permitted till 5 am too," said Manisha Khetwani, a Bandra resident. Sanjay Khanna, a BPO employee echoed Khetwani's sentiments.
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"This new deadline will only work to our advantage," said Khanna. Said Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation, "It should not be a problem if the loudspeaker deadline is extended till 3 am, provided it's not in a public area, but the police have to keep tabs to ensure there is discipline."

Rs 6,000
The cost of the FL4 party licence

Did You Know?
Anybody caught flouting the rule can be imprisoned and/or has to pay a fine of Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 depending on the stock found on him

In Pune
According to Restaurant Owners Association the deadline to play music is only till midnight and all restaurants have to shut by 12.30 am.

Imran Sethi, owner, Tertullia Lounge, a bar and restaurant at Koregaon Park, said, "We are trying our best to convince the police and extend the deadline.

If they don't we will work with what we have." Added Rachana Punjabi, owner, Casanova, "We don't know what will actually happen, but rules are rules and they have to be followed."

In Delhi
The Delhi police refuses to allow relaxation on deadlines. Music from loudspeakers has to be stopped by 10 pm, while the deadline for serving alcohol is dependent on the bar/club's individual licence granted by the excise department.

Said Kashif Farooq, co-owner, Urban Pind, "We cannot extend our operations beyond the 1 am ruling.

At least for one day in a year, we should be given the freedom to operate for 24 hours." Added Siddharth Talwar, owner, Cafe Morrison, "We will shut shop at 12.45 am because of the 1 am deadline.
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However, we have a provision to extend the deadline till 2 am if we take police permission."

Said Kamal Arora, entertainment head, The Sports Bar, "I've got permission to operate till 1 am, but if the crowd wants and if we get permission, we can extend the hours."

In Bangalore
Cops are ensuring that Bangalore has a dull December 31. While Mumbai will party hard till 5 am, the scene in Bangalore will be a downer with celebrity bartenders serving booze and belly and salsa dancers baring their bods, till just 1 am.

Despite a call by pub owners and hoteliers to have an extended deadline, the police only relented to extending the deadline by one hour, till 1 am.

Leena Singh, a socialite, said she would be at a fancy wedding in Bangalore on New Year's eve rather than attend a New Year bash.

Event organiser Lalit Sanghvi added, "I'm off to Dubai for a week and will ring in the New Year at Bukhara, Dubai."

Deadline Tug-of-War

In 2007, former tourism secretary I M Vittala Murthy proposed that the deadline for restaurants be extended from 11.30 pm to 1.30 am in the interest of the travelling public and tourists to promote Mumbai as a youth-friendly city. According to the proposal, the 11.30 pm deadline was described as unreasonable, considering the city's cosmopolitan character. The proposed deadline was for three developing cities Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The proposal was accepted, and the deadline for Mumbai was extended to 1.30 am. However, establishments were not allowed to take in new customers or accept fresh orders after 12.30 am.

Inputs by Kaumudi Gurjar, Kumar Saurav and Namita Gupta