Crackdown on drunk driving takes toll on pubbing

HYDERABAD: The city’s swish set are wary of visiting pubs nowadays. With the traffic police arresting people caught drunken driving and producing them in court, most youngsters who frequent pubs are preferring to drink at home, to avoid being caught drunk driving on roads.This has led to a decline in business between 20 and 40 per cent in the past one month, according to pub owners.With city police commissioner AK Khan directing traffic police to stick caution posters at pubs, lounges, bars and restaurants, the managements are in a dilemma how to run their regular business.“Since the traffic police have been strictly enforcing the drive against drunken driving, customers are quite apprehensive to attend various events at pubs and lounges. Even when we arrange events for couples and stags without any entry fee, customers are not much interested,” explained the managing director of a pub in Banjara Hills.He added that with alcohol being available easily at bars, more people are preferring to drink at home. Many pub owners say the new laws where less than a pint of alcohol consumed can cause an arrest has been the final straw. Traffic police are booking drivers when measurement of alcohol is at least 0.3 mg of 100 ml on the breathalyser screen.Meanwhile, police said the number of drunken driving cases have gradually gone down due to the drive. GVG Ashok Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) told Express that drunken driving have gone down in posh localities of Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills where a number of pubs and lounges are located.“When we initiated the drive, there were number of drunken driving cases booked in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. This week, the number of cases have come down,” he added.