Kolkata cops meet bar owners, say alcohol notice an 'advisory', not mandatory

KOLKATA: Kolkata Police has assured restaurant and bar owners that it would not be mandatory for them to conduct breathalyzer tests on their patrons as had been mentioned in a notice issued last week. A new notice replacing the old one could be issued, it has been hinted.
On Monday, representatives of two restaurants and bar owners' associations met senior police officers at Lalbazar, seeking clarification regarding the KP notice dated January 4, which asked bars and restaurants to procure breath analyzers and test their patrons.
"We met the pub and restaurant owners and have informed them that the exercise is not mandatory. We have also told them to treat it as an advisory. We hope that this will clear all doubts in the minds of the owners," said Kolkata Police's joint CP (headquarter) Subhankar Sinha Sarkar.
Sarkar added that a decision to issue a fresh notice will be taken after further discussions with higher officials. "We will take a final decision on issuing a fresh memo depending on the need for the same and after a round of discussion," said Sarkar.
From last Thursday, multiple bar and restaurant owners had started getting notices that asked them to procure breath analyzers and made it mandatory for the authorities to test their patrons before they left their premises.
Sources said the decision was initially taken following a practice carried out in some foreign nations where drivers get tested while exiting malls and pubs. "Since it is difficult to fix the identity of drivers in open parking zones here, we had planned it as a non-mandatory exercise from the very beginning," said a senior officer. He, however, didn't explain why the notice mentioned the word 'mandatory'.
"You are hereby directed to procure breath analyser and to cause breath analyser test as a mandatory provision to the customer prior to leaving your premises and prevent the intoxicated customers from driving the vehicles (both four-wheeler and two- wheeler) and if necessary alternative arrangements can be made," the memo no. 13/HQ/C signed by Joint Commissioner (Headquarter) of Kolkata Police Subhankar Sinha Sarkar and dated January 4 read. The letter ended asking the recipients to treat it as "urgent and implement the direction strictly".
Representatives of Hotel and Restaurants Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) and National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) who attended the meeting were relieved after Monday's meeting. They said they were looking forward to a fresh notice from the cops.
"The meeting cleared all doubts and we passed on the clarification to our members as well. At the meeting, we explained the technical difficulties to test our patrons, which may create a ruckus at the bars if we try to force them or refuse to hand over the car keys to tipsy customers kept with the valet. The cops understood our concerns and said that the testing isn't mandatory," said Sudesh Poddar, the HRAEI president.
Poddar added that the members appreciated the police effort to curb drink-driving and even agreed to procure breath analyzers at the earliest but pleaded before the cops to review the earlier notice and issue a fresh one that doesn't mention the word "mandatory".
"It's good to hear that the cops have explained that conducting the breath analyser test on our patrons on our premises will not be mandatory and is more of an advisory in nature. We hope to receive a revised notice soon," said Debaditya Chowdhury, the managing director of Chapter 2 and Chowman.