Navi Mumbai: Following the public outrage post the fatal accident of Pune wherein a minor boy after consuming alcohol rammed his Porsche car onto two killing them on the spot, Navi Mumbai police too have pulled up their socks and have started booking the liquor shops selling liquor to minors. Besides, steps are also being taken to prevent any such incident in the city.
“We have started checking underage persons entering into Bars and Pubs, we are strictly enforcing the closure times of pubs as mandated, which is 1.30am. Drunk and drive cases are being checked at important locations and nakabandi is also implemented for over speeding vehicles. The police stations have been given special instructions to increase the vigil around the pubs and bars and the bar owners too have been to make sure that they follow the norms of serving alcohol and closing their establishment on time,” Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe said.
Ravindra Sawant, former corporator from Congress and some of the party workers had met Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bharambe on Wednesday with request to keep a check on all the pubs in the city. “In Navi Mumbai, there are several pubs and bars which stay operational beyond the time limit. Also, most of them serve liquor to minors as well. An incident like the one that happened in Pune, should not happen in our city and hence we met the commissioner with our request,” Sawant added.
Meanwhile, the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Navi Mumbai had booked the owner of a wine shop in CBD Sector-15 who was selling liquor to a boy below the permissible age which is 21.
“We had received an information that Sanju wine shop at sector 15 in Belapur had been selling liquor to the underaged boys. Hence, we sent a dummy customer for the same and verified if the information was true. Once we verified it, we booked the owner Navin Vaswani and served him with notice,” senior police inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade from AHTU said.
If any of the bars and pubs are found flouting the norms, the police would also be alerting the Excise department following which even the license of the establishment could be suspended. The action against the establishment would be taken under the provision of Bombay Prohibition Act 1949 and Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953.
