Determined to keep the ‘stuff’ and excessive boozing out of New Year revelries, the Kochi Police are planning to put strict controls on music-and-dance DJ parties in the city. The police move follows Intelligence reports about the possibility of inflow of narcotic substances to the city in the context of New Year celebrations.
The city police will hold discussions on Tuesday with hotel operators in Kochi on how to ensure that no illegal activities take place during celebrations organised in their premises. Many hotels in Kochi have already announced New Year celebration programmes with DJ parties and started receiving booking. A final picture will emerge only after the meeting.
As part of the restrictions on New Year revelries, lights-off song-and-dance sessions during the night would not be allowed. According to sources in the police, lights-off dance sessions are being used by revelers for consumption of narcotic substances. The Kochi Police had in the past two years held raids at several DJ party venues and had seized narcotic drugs.
“No final decision has been taken. We are not against song and dance. But it is the job of the police to ensure that illegal activities like drug consumption are not taking place in the name of DJ parties,” said a top official of the Kochi Police. The police are of the view that parties should be held in such a way that families with women and children should be able to participate.
The police may ask the hotel owners and others organizing New Year parties to strictly adhere to norms regarding age while serving liquor. Also, serving liquor at the parties will not be allowed after 10.00 PM. It will be the responsibility of the hosts to ensure that narcotic substances do not change hands and are not consumed in the celebrations.
About 1,500 police personnel are likely to be deployed across the city to ensure that no illegal activities are taking place under the garb of New Year celebrations. In the focus of the police will be specific places in the city known for New Year festivities. The police feel that such venues are also places where liquor and drugs are extensively consumed as part of revelries.
Though the city police do not want the move to be seen as one to take away the colour and glitter from New Year festivities, hotels and agencies organizing such parties think that the move will affect the celebrations. According to them, the police decision is likely to create unnecessary fear in the minds of the revelers.
Many hotels in Kochi and around, including five-star hotels, had announced colorful New Year celebration programmes with DJ parties several weeks ago and have already received bookings. The entry fees vary from hotel to hotel but it is well above Rs 1,000 per head in most cases. “Hotels are not the only places where such parties are held,” said a police official.
Hotel owners said that the police move is surely a setback to those organizing New Year parties as it has come well after they had started receiving bookings. “It is not that we allow illegal boozing or drug consumption at parties. But guests won’t like to celebrate the New Year under the watch of the police,” said the operating officer of a high-end hotel in Kochi.