Dance
till midnight, drink till....
Sandesh Prabhudesai
24 December 2002
Tourists
coming to Goa for Christmas and New Year celebrations can
now dance at the music 'officially' till midnight, thanks
to the relaxation granted by the Supreme Court.
To add little more flavour to it, the state government has
also decided to officially permit the liquor to flow till
2 am.
The Supreme Court passed an order at the fag end of the year,
relaxing the noise pollution restrictions for a fortnight
in a year from 10 pm to 12 midnight. Taking full advantage
of it, the state has now relaxed the timings for the last
nine days, from 23 to 31 December.
Though the court order was passed much earlier, the state
had to wait till the centre issued a notification in this
regard. A special gazette notification to relax the time was
then issued yesterday at state level, based on the central
notification.
The notification will obviously help the midnight Christmas
mass as well as the New Year mass, besides the dances many
hotels organise here till late night. In spite of the SC ban,
the state had last year allowed
the open-air midnight mass, using loudspeakers but not beyond
80 decibels.
The tourism industry however is in a joyous mood since the
relaxation is for all the nine days while the coastal state
is getting flooded with thousands of Indian and foreign tourists
during the peak season. The 15 days however will be spread
out equitably from the next year, stated the officials.
In addition, the state excise department has decided to allow
all the hotels, bars and restaurants to remain open till 2
am, provided the traders buy a legal licence for it. Since
the prohibition earlier was violated blatantly in collusion
with the concerned officials, the state has now decided to
permit it legally by earning additional revenue.
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