Tabu in Chandni Bar

Bars will now be open only to men, not boys. In an unprecedented move, the Maharashtra government today said no one below 21 will be allowed to enter bars, nightclubs and permit rooms.

The announcement, which will hit beer bars and pubs hard, was met with disbelief and anger among the city’s youth, including women who are becoming increasingly visible on the ladies bar circuit.

Umesh Rana, a call centre executive, was aghast. “How can the government decide that I am too young to visit the bars but old enough to vote, marry and have kids? Going to bars on weekends used to be the high point of our hectic weekdays,’’ he said.

Umesh said it wasn’t just his male colleagues who accompanied him to the bars. “We had women coming along all the time, because the beer bars, especially the good ones, are such fun places. My vote for this government is not on.’’

The government’s sudden crackdown on watering holes, some of which remain open beyond the stipulated 1.30 am closure and boast of dancing girls, has surprised many.

In a late-night swoop that continued into the early hours today, five additional commissioners raided 52 bars, including Topaz, the place where stamp scam mastermind Abdul Karim Telgi reportedly lavished Rs 95 lakh on a bar maid. Nearly 1,700 people were arrested.

Police said the raids covered prominent areas in north, central and southern Mumbai and were aimed at cracking down on the flesh trade and obscenity. These bars were also violating government norms by remaining open well beyond 1.30 am, they added.

New Mumbai police commissioner A.. Roy personally coordinated and conducted some raids. Top police officers also said they will initiate disciplinary action against officers under whose jurisdiction these bars operated.

Calling those under 21 “children’’, excise minister Anil Deshmukh said: “Children below that age would not be allowed in pubs, beer bars and permit rooms from April 1 and strict action will be taken against those who flout the rule.’’

The minister said the government was also banning wine shops from using the names of gods in their establishments. “All those having names of gods and goddesses for their bars will have to change them immediately,’’ he said. April onwards, Chandni Bar will be fine, but not Shiva Bar.

But the bars are fighting back. Manjit Singh, president of the Bars Association, which is now under the umbrella organisation called the Maharashtra Liquor Association, termed it a political witch-hunt.

Bar owners say some Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) activists were roughed up at the upmarket Carnival Bar some time ago.

“The activists then went to a senior NCP leader who was told that bars had to be taught a lesson as the morale of the workers were already low,’’ a bar owner said. The NCP is part of the ruling coalition in the state. The association has also decided to file a public interest litigation against Deshmukh’s order, arguing that it was a “violation of human rights’’.

Bar owners have also threatened to go on indefinite strike.