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Journalism of Courage
The much-awaited ordinance banning dance bars in Maharashtra has been put on hold, again.
Sent by the Home Department on June 3, the ordinance is lying at Governor S M Krishna’s office at Raj Bhavan in South Mumbai. ‘‘Krishna is on a tour of the United Kingdom and would be returning to office on June 10,’’said official Raj Bhavan sources. This means the ordinance would not be promulgated before June 10.
As per the procedure, the Home Department prepared the ordinance after the minutes of the cabinet meeting were cleared on June 1. It was sent to the Governor two days later, but he had already left the city for UK on June 1.
It has been two months since Deputy CM R.R. Patil announced his decision to ban the 1,300 dance bars in Maharashtra claiming they were corrupting the young generation. Ironically, the ban has been jinxed right from the beginning. Though Patil, the driving force behind the ban had made the announcement in Assembly on March 30, the State Cabinet actually took a decision six weeks later on May 18.
Even his cabinet colleagues were not sure about the decision since Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself had met a delegation of bargirls and Congress leaders like Margaret Alva had openly expressed dissent over the move.
Deshmukh, too, delayed the clearance of the ordinance by refusing Patil’s demand on April 28 to include the item on the Cabinet’s agenda. Still, after he returned from a 10-day tour of China on May 14, Patil managed to push through the decision.
Titled the Bombay Police (Amendment) Ordinance 2005, it actually is an amendment to Section 33 of the Bombay Police Act. While it will down the shutters on over 1,300 dance bars, three and five star hotels as well as pubs would be exempted. Barowners violating the law would face three months to three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh. Besides, licences for eateries and permit rooms would be cancelled immediately.
Patil has now stopped talking about the dance bar issue. ‘‘It is a long wait for us,’’quipped a Home Department official. ‘‘Hopefully, it would be June 10,’’ he added, quickly.
