MOHALI: Despite a ban on night clubs, pubs and discos operatiung in Zirakpur after midnight, rave parties are being organised with impunity on the streets of the township. Though police have been claiming that they have been getting discos closed after midnight, the entire exercise has been futile as revelers have been making hay on the streets openly.Disturbing the peace of locals, these party poppers have been enjoying the slackness of police.Team TOI during reality checks outside various discos situated on NH-21 in Zirakpur saw youth drinking and dancing at public places and inside their cars parked in the parking lots.The district magistrate (DM) has banned the operation of discos, clubs, lounges, roadside eateries, restaurants and even street vendors from midnight to 6am on daily basis. Police said they have been registering FIRs against owners of establishments found open past midnight, but such an exercise turns out to be futile as most discos openely flout the law.Mohali police have failed to register even a single FIR against violators, while following Section 68(1)B of the Punjab Police Act 2007 to abstain people from drinking in public. Mohali senior superintended of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal said he had also received such complaints and directions had been issued to the officers concerned to book persons violating norms. "I have also asked them to check discos, pubs, roadside eateries allowing people to drink in public," he said.The residents of Zirakpur say restaurants, dhabas and even roadside eateries had been serving liquor and even allowing people to drink on their premises. The post-midnight ban was imposed after deputy commissioner Gurpreet Kaur Sapra took note of latenight brawls in Zirakpur."The discotheques will not be allowed to function beyond 12am," she said.Sapra added that recent cases of lawlessness had raised concerns over safety and there had been a major brawls outside discotheques in March and April this year. Owners will have to get CCTVs installed at entrance and other prominent places. They will have to get the antecedents of the bouncers they employ checked with the police, be it male or female. There will also be a limit on the entry of guests.At present, discos, pubs, restaurants next to highways have been operating overnight and many cases of fights and brawls have been reported from such places. Some small time roadside eateries have also become a cause of minor brawls and unlawful activities.

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