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tippling after 11, warns Excise Dept. The directive also extends the Department’s purview to include taking action against narcotics abuse and the prevalence of drugs within the premises of such establishments. The Excise Department has deployed four teams of 15 personnel each to conduct daily raids on all clubs, pubs and karaoke bars to ensure that they adhere to these regulations, said Excise Commissioner P.B. Ekanayake. Authorised establishments found guilty of violating this directive can be fined up to Rs. 500,000 and their licences even cancelled, depending on the gravity of the offence, he said. Unauthorised establishments would be taken to courts, where they would be fined and ordered to shut down. “However, most of these establishments go right back into business within a matter of 2-3 weeks”, he said. Mr. Ekanayake said the hours of operation and other regulations are stipulated in the licences issued by the Department to the respective club owners. The Department plans to keep a tab on all the 222 authorised establishments currently in operation in the country, he said. In addition, about 150 unauthorised establishments have been raided over the past four months and the cases have been forwarded to courts and dealt with accordingly, he said. Till recently the Department used to conduct raids two to three times a week, but from now onwards it hopes to carry out daily raids at random, Mr. Ekanayake said. Taking into consideration the number of personnel being deployed, he said it should be possible to raid about 20 places a night. Some of the personnel would be in civvies acting as decoys, while the Police would be asked to assist if and when the need arises, he said. |
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