BHUBANESWAR: The commissionerate police have started a special drive against illegal dance bars in the city. The Odisha excise rules, 2017, clearly specify that the bar owners should obtain licence from the excise commissioner to employ female dancers and singers on their premises. Police said not a single bar here possesses the permission to hold dance or music shows by female artists."In last one month, we raided at least six bars where we found illegal engagement of women in dance and music shows. Those bars have licences to sell liquor only. But they did not have the requisite licence to engage women as dancers and singers. We have asked the bars to temporarily shut their establishments and recommended to the excise department to cancel their licences," deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo told TOI.The city has around 25 licensed bars. Excise commissioner Debendra Mohapatra said none of the bars has licence to employ women in their establishments. "A few bar owners had applied for dance bar licence. We rejected their applications because they failed to adhere to the norms and conditions mentioned in the Odisha excise rules, 2017," said Mohapatra.The excise rules, 2017, have at least 16 riders for the safety of women employees in dance bars. According to the rules, bars shall install CCTV cameras, furnish details of female employees, the female performers should not wear provocative clothes and the performance stage should be fenced by a railing of three-foot height with minimum five-foot distance from seats of customers. The rules also prohibit tipsy customers from going close to the dancers and offering them money.Bar owners said they never promote nudity in their establishments. "We had applied for licences. But the government prescribed some stringent conditions. Several women need livelihood means. So we gave them employment as singers. We never promoted vulgarity. Utmost care and safety measures were taken for female singers," said Satya Mohanty, a bar owner.

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