Dance bars back in business from Friday

More than 10 years after they were forced to shut shop, dance bars are officially making a comeback in the city, Friday onwards. Three bars, namely Airo Punjab and Sai Prasad at Andheri and Indiyana at Tardeo, were on Thursday evening issued licences. They were issued after owners submitted a demand draft of Rs 2 lakh to the hotels’ unit of the Mumbai police which is the licence-issuing authority.

“The amount has been fixed at the rate of Rs 500 per day plus Rs 2,000 as premise licence which needs to be given to the hotels’ unit in one go and is the annual fee,” said a senior officer.

Sources said that following the Supreme Court verdict in favour of reopening dance bars in the city, bar owners had lined up at the department’s headquarters to enquire about licences. The officer said, “Eight bars were supposed to get licences on Thursday but two of them were outside town and could not submit the DD which is a prerequisite. Of these, three of them (named above) were able to reach on time with the said amount and hence, were issued license.”

According to some hoteliers, the rule to submit Rs 2 lakh was announced at the last minute. “They insisted that they want a DD for the said amount and only from a scheduled bank. Since it was already late in the afternoon, many of the bar owners could not arrange for the same and were not issued licences,” said a hotelier.

Bharat Thakur, president, bar committee, AHAR, confirmed that three bars had been issued licences. “Licences have been issued in accordance with new rules and laws. According to this, dance bars can be open only from 6 pm to 11.30pm. We also cannot serve liquor in the bar and if the police finds any dancer indulging in obscene acts, the bar owner will be fined Rs 5 lakh or five years’ imprisonment,” he said.

Mr Thakur added that they would be submitting to the court their plea that the deadline of 11.30 pm is not acceptable and also liquor serving rules need to be changed.

Sources stated that the licence is a conditional one and valid only for 60 days. After the said period, police will review whether the dance bar is complying with all the necessary requirements and only then decide whether they want to renew the licence.