Gurgaon villagers turn moral police, want bars to close
BARS and pubs operating in many of Gurgaons shopping malls are becoming targets of a new kind of moral police. Its not the saffron brigade thats up in arms but residents of villages neighbouring Gurgaons urbanised areas.
On December 24-25, around 200 people from villages like Sikanderpur, Chakarpur, Sirhaul, Kanhai, Dundahera and Molahera protested outside various shopping malls demanding the immediate closure of what they called obscene dance bars in malls. Villagers have threatened to block MG Road on a sustained basis if their demands are not met.
Bars inside these malls are running just the way Mumbais dance bars ran, says Mahesh Yadav, sarpanch of Chakarpur village, who has been leading the protest.
All this is having a corrupting influence of our children, some of them have stolen money to frequent these bars. Most of these bars operate well past the midnight deadline and keep playing loud music till early morning. We have decided to put an end to this and a mahapanchayat of 12 villages will soon deliberate on the matter, adds Yadav.
The agitation, obviously, has not gone down well with shop-owners in the malls. This kind of moral policing must stop. It is nobodys business to interfere into how a bar or a pub operates, says Baljeet Singh of MGF Metropolitan Mall.
More: cities.expressindia.com