Glance at your watch if you are to dine with your friends and relatives. Dehradun police has ordered the eateries to get closed sharply after 10.30 pm, saying that it would help them check accidents which are occurring almost daily. Dehradun residents this correspondent has talked to, however, ridiculed the cops’ logic,
wondering how the order would stop accidents. Police should instead enforce traffic regulations strictly by slapping the law- violators with challans.
The order followed a meeting a senior police officer had with cheetah police personnel late Thursday night. The order runs that all the eateries like dhabas and hotels in the city are closed by 10.30 pm and those near railway stations and bus stands, by 11 pm.
Dehradun Circle Officer (CO) city Manoj Kumar Katyal said that following the direction of SSP Dr Sadanand Shankar Rao Date, all the police patrolling teams and cheetah police have been directed to ensure that the order is enforced strictly from Friday. According to him, the rationale behind the order is that the eateries turn into meeting places of the criminals and anti-social elements who plan crimes after taking liquors and drugs. “Besides, cases of drunk driving on the spiral, the running of eateries late into the night are spawning accidents, he said.
Senior cops said action would be taken under
various Act in case the order is violated and the police personnel not enforcing the order would not be spared too.
But on the flip side, the order would aggravate problems for the tourists and pilgrims alike as many of them reach the city by buses late in the night from Delhi. Many of the buses reach here well after 11 pm.
“This looks like an infantile initiative. Accidents and criminal activities cannot be stopped by such orders. Things must be tackled on the ground. If liquors are sold in the eateries sans licence police should take actions on such specific cases. But such an indiscriminate order would more land the common people, including the tourists and pilgrims, in trouble rather than help police to crush crime,” said Rajendra, resident of Raipur.
Suman, resident of Jogiwala, said that this order in force, one may not dare go for dinner after 9.30 in the city. “Who would enjoy dinner while glancing at the watches lest he is lateIJ” he asked.