The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Hoteliers for extended hours for nightclubs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Hoteliers for extended hours for nightclubs

CHENNAI: As big technology firms keep gaining foothold in Chennai, hotel owners have one question to ask: Does the rules governing the city's nightlife need to be more liberal?

President of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) and South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIH&RA) M.P. Purushothaman says these bodies have already sought the City Police Commissioner's assistance to extend the closing hours of discos and pubs.

But the police chief has apparently told them that the current closing time at midnight was the official stand of the Government and that nothing could change unless there was a change in Government policy.

At a recent press conference, Mr. Purushothaman said, "We have specifically requested the Commissioner to extend the working hours of discotheques due to specific demands from the staff of overseas airlines and software firms," he added.

But things have obviously taken a negative spin, with a section of the media publishing photographs of private parties held at five star hotels and farmhouses.

Hotel owners feel it is time the Government rose to help the hospitality sector and relaxed the rules. But they say they are not against enforcement of rules to clamp down obscenity or drunken behaviour at public spaces.

T.S. Shankar

T.S. Shankar

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