The state cabinet went ahead with the decision to ban dance bars in Mumbai despite its earlier announcement of setting up a five-member committee under the home secretary to scrutinise the problem.

The committee under additional chief secretary (Home) A K D Jadhav was to examine whether dance bars in Mumbai city were to be banned.

The decision was announced by Home Minister R R Patil when he banned the dance bars in the rest of state on March 31.

But yesterday when the state cabinet met, all the ministers unanimously decided to ban dance bars in Mumbai, said Patil.

The ban will come into effect in a couple of days, added Patil. Bureaucrats in the state government say that they will lose only Rs 8 crore in revenue. According to Patil, there were 307 dance bars in the city.

Punishment

The government said it would make provisions in the law to make it a non-bailable offence punishable with three years of rigorous imprisonment. The licenses of a permit rooms and food joints that were running dance bars illegally would also be cancelled.

Accountable in the city would be the police commissioner and excise superintendent and in rural areas would be the superintendent of police, the district collector and excise superintendent

Patil said that dance bars were encouraging crime and antisocial activities. “Women staying in the vicinity of the bars are often mistaken as dancers and molested by drunkards… And often I find policemen demanding transfers in areas where these dance bars are located,” he added.

Tough to implement

Conceded Patil, “I am aware that implementing this decision will be tough. The government needs support of the entire house and the people for this. And those who corrupt the system will not be tolerated.”