Bad news for bar flies in Andaman

Port Blair, July 31 (UNI) Andaman and Nicobar Administration has cancelled and rejected renewal of licences of four bars, situated close to religious places here.

''There were specific complaints against these bars and on verification the complaints were found true,'' S Singh, Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman told UNI today.

Mr Singh said after advertisement of the names and locations of all the bars in South Andaman in local newspapers, he had received several complaints from the general public against four bars operating very close to temples and Buddhist religious places.

Hotel Bengal KP, which is located 3.5m from a temple, has been rejected renewal of license.

Similarly, Hotel Ram Niwas, Aberdeen Bazar, is also located within 4.5m from another temple. Hence its bar license has also been cancelled.

The propreitors of Hotel Jaimathi and SSM Restaurant, both situated at Ponghy Kyong (Buddhish area), had applied for renewal of bar licenses. However, since both these bars were on land which have not been classified as 'commercial' in the land records, their licenses have also been terminated, the DC added.

Moreover, the District Administration have found that they were operating over a part of land recorded in favour of a Buddhist Temple. Hence, the applications for renewal of these bar licenses have also been rejected.

Bars in the city are mushrooming since the last couple of years putting thousands of Islanders in a pickle.

''This is an appreciable effort by the District Administration,'' Chief Spokesperson of Andaman and Nicobar Territorial Congress Committee K Ganeshan said.

UNI