HT impact: Gurugram police step up action against liquor vends across city

Cracking down on drinking in public spaces, the police and excise departments conducted raids at liquor vends across the city over the last four days.

The Hindustan Times ran a series of reports on the problem of open drinking, specifically outside liquor vends, highlighting rampant drinking in the open, role of eateries at vends as facilitators and the ahataas (open drinking spaces) making a fast buck.

Officials privy to the matter said that specific directions had been issued to the police to intensify night patrolling near sensitive areas where maximum number of open-drinking cases were reported.

Subhash Boken, spokesperson for Gurugram police, said as many as 247 people were arrested on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for violations under the Punjab Excise Act and cases were registered at DLF Phase 1 (Bristol Chowk, Gwal Pahari village), Sector 37 (Bikaner Chowk, Hari Nagar Subway), Sector 40 (Jharsa Road), Rajendra Park (Dharampur Naka), Sector 5 (near CRPF Chowk), Sector 18 (Iffco Chowk, Kataria Chowk), Pataudi (Mata Chowk), Sector 56 (near Artemis traffic light point), Sohna Road, Golf Course Road, Sushant Lok, Civil Lines (Sohna Chowk), Sector 14 (Old Delhi Road), Sectors 29, 9-A and 18.

Police said coordinated raids were conducted at many liquor vends in the city from 9pm Thursday to Saturday midnight, with the aim of nabbing offenders drinking in cars, vacant plots and near vends. “After several complaints, police personnel, clad in mufti (civvies), conducted raids and arrested people found drinking near liquor vends,” Boken said.

Police commissioner KK Rao said action would be taken against liquor vend owners, who turn a blind eye to squatters and those drinking outside their establishment.

Deputy excise and taxation commissioner (east) Sneh Lata Yadav said excise officials had accompanied police personnel during raids. “The police administration should consider taking strict measures, including action against liquor vends that tacitly allow people to drink in the open,” Yadav said.

Earlier, the excise department had issued a warning to liquor traders to remove advertisements/hoardings, signage and promotional material displayed at vends and ahataas.

According to the norms laid down under the excise policy, liquor vends are prohibited from displaying advertisement of liquor brands. On an average, at least eight people are arrested in the city everyday for offences related to drinking in public spaces. According to data from the office of the commissioner of police, as many as 3,365 people were arrested in 2017 for violations under the Punjab Excise Act. This year, till August 10, the figure was 2,275, and is expected to breach last year’s mark.

Over the past week, HT visited 12 liquor vends in Central Arcade, DLF Phase 2, Vyapar Kendra, Sushant Lok, Bristol Chowk, Kanhai village, Jharsa village, near Sectors 44, 47 and 49, South City Gate and on Golf Course Road. The HT Team spotted people drinking in the open at all vends except at the one at Galleria market in DLF Phase 4. Even at vends where police control vans were stationed in the vicinity, people were seen indulging in drunken revelry in the open.

Police said that cracking down on open drinking was one of their top priorities.

Rao said that since he took charge of the department in June, the police had intensified raids, specifically at MG Road, Golf Course Road, sectors 29 and 38, from where maximum cases of drinking in the open were reported.

He said residents could help the police by reporting such cases on ‘100’ or at their nearest police station if they see any unscrupulous element indulging in open drinking or violating any rules.

After senior police officers said last week that open drinking cases reflected negligence on the part of station house officers (SHOs) concerned, police officers said patrolling teams had been formed to keep vigil.

DLF phase 2 SHO Vishnu Prasad said, “In addition to intensifying night patrolling, a team of three officers has been deputed on the arterial road near the Central Arcade market to ensure no one drinks near the liquor vend.”

Major hot spots such as MG Road, Iffco Chowk, Golf Course Road and Golf Course Extension Road saw heavy police deployment over the last three days to curb open drinking.

Sector 56 SHO Narender Khatana saidliquor vend owners had been instructed to not let anyone drink on their premises. “Strict action would be taken against vend owners if any connivance is reported,” Khatana said.

Police personnel have also been asked to keep a check on all internal roads and dark stretches in sectors to ensure they don’t become hubs of illegal activities.

Sushant Lok SHO Arvind Kumar said that three teams had been formed to keep a check on open drinking, especially in residential lanes.

“It is challenging for us as people start calling local politicians and senior officials, asking to be let off. They even go to the extent of offering bribes to officials and when police personnel refuse, they start misbehaving. In a recent case, a group of women, who were caught drinking near Galleria Market, threatened to press molestation charges against the police personnel if they did not let them go,” Kumar said.

Head constable Vinay, posted at Sector 56 police station, said that offenders often plead with the police to be let off with a warning.

“The offenders are arrested and produced before a judge, who decides the penalty, depending on the offence. In their statement before the judge, the offenders, on most occasions, say that they were drinking in the open as it was cheap or because their wives forbid them from drinking at home,” Vinay, who only goes by his first name, said.

Another police officer, who was part of a raid on Saturday night, said that since drinking in the open is a bailable offence, people take it lightly. He said offenders should get harsher punishments for repeated violations. “People start threatening us when they are caught drinking in the open and misbehave to evade arrest,” said the officer.

Residents in several housing complexes welcomed the police crackdown, saying that the police had finally woken up from a deep slumber.

Mayank Sharma, a Sushant Lok 1 resident, said the police should continue the drive to eradicate the problem.

“Raids should not be selective and should be conducted at regular intervals, if they are to serve as a deterrent. Liquor vends owners, themselves, encourage drinking in the open. Police should investigate the role of eateries that come up outside liquor vends. Open drinking can lead to drink driving and several other related crimes, if it goes unchecked,” Sharma said.

Smriti Chabbra, a resident of DLF Phase 2, said, “The staircases and corners of the market are where the hooligans are late at night. Women have stopped visiting the market and the stretch due to open drinking. On Saturday night, we were pleasantly surprised to find the stretch and market free of such elements. Shopkeepers were not allowing anyone to sit on the staircase.”

However, liquor vend owners said it is unfair to book them for open drinking as it is not their responsibility to check if anyone is having a drink in the open. “It is a customer’s choice where he wants to drink. We can’t be held accountable once they step out of our stores,” said a liquor vend owner, asking not to be named.

First Published: Aug 20, 2018 04:52 IST