Bangalore: With the authorities doing little to consider the demand for extending Bangalore’s nightlife beyond the early deadline set for it currently, keeping up the city’s global image is no longer the sole concern. This has begun to affect the city’s economy, too.
With both the Metro Rail and BMTC halting services at 11 pm, followed by eateries, supermarkets and gas stations, Bangalore has lost over 50,000 BPO jobs over the last five years. Aware that employees in Bangalore can neither shop nor eat at night, several BPO companies have chosen to shut down their city units and move to the Philippines, which provides a safer environment late into the night by keeping its transportation system up and running at all hours.
Even for Bangaloreans resigned to the early deadline, the police’s insistence on eateries closing down by 11pm on Christmas eve was a lot to take, as many were looked forward to midnight masses and family dinners.
The lawmen continue to justify the early deadline saying they simply don’t have the numbers to provide adequate security to a city that wants to stay up late. While Delhi and Mumbai have a police force of 80,000 and 35,000 respectively, Bangalore has merely 15,000 sanctioned posts, of which 3,000 are still vacant.
The Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), which has of late, been active in all spheres of life affecting the city, has now joined the chorus for a better nightlife, suggesting that it is first enforced in the Central Business District (CBD), then extended to other parts.
BPAC members met CM Siddaramaiah last week to appeal to him to improve living and working conditions in Bangalore, B.PAC vice president, Mohandas Pai is all for keeping the city open till 2 am.
“The mindset of the city police must change. They cannot be a dampener all the time. Why should we citizens, who pay taxes, suffer this kind of restriction? It’s a clear infringement of our freedom and liberty,” he says. He believes its time to extend the deadline for restaurants and public transport and create safe zones for women late at night.
“Everybody wants to rush home today because you don’t have public transport late into the night. It’s ridiculous that our police cannot provide us with security. Its possible to allow eateries and other facilities to operate till late in certain areas and generate employment. We cannot afford to lose jobs to other countries,” Pai stresses. Home minister K J George has promised raise to issue with the CM, saying vacancies in the police department will soon be filled.
