Only three cheers this New Year's eve

Pubs have asked waiters to keep track of the number of drinks that revellers order; will also drive intoxicatedu00a0 party-goers home safely

One for the road? Absolutely not, say party organisers from the city.

Concerned that Pune has earned the notoriety of being the nation's accident capital, a statistic that could only worsen after drink drivingu00a0 on New Year's eve, Pune's pubs and restaurant owners say they would self-impose restrictions on serving drinks to tipsy customers.

Keep a count
Tousif Attar, a restaurant manager atu00a0 Mocha in Koregaon Park, where alcohol will be served on New Year's, said revellers who will have more than three drinks will be asked to go slow.

"We have instructed all our waiters to keep a check on how many drinks each customer ordered. If anyone goes beyond three to four pegs, we would request them to go slow. We have informed our staff to go slow while serving liquor. And if we feel someone is losing control, we will stop serving them," saidu00a0 Attar.

At Kalyani Nagar's Casanova lounge, manager Desmond Joseph said that while waiters have been asked to keep a check on patrons, they have also kept security guards to ensure that guests who do not adhere to requests are made to leave.

Safety first
"We do not allow drunk customers as they create nuisance for others as well. We would escort them out and even have arranged for services for them to be dropped home."

Drop them home
While most clubs have imposed restrictions on the number of drinks to be served, a few said that they would rather drop guests home than ask them to drink less. "We have arranged for 10-12 drivers and aboutu00a0 six vehicles for dropping guestsu00a0 rather than asking them to drink less, as it's their personal choice. We will ensure that they get home safely," said Neeraj Jain, director of Leather lounge in Camp area.

Even at Hard Rock Cafu00e9, provisions have been made to escort revellers home. "We will not allow drunken guests, who are not fit to drive, to leave our restaurant on their own. We will ensure that they get a prepaid cab or a driver to get them home safely."

"Besides, that we are in the process of cramming down on excessive drinking by our guests," said Amit Keswani, vice-president, sales and marketing of JSM Corporation Pvt Ltd.