We are working on extending hours’

‘There is a growing view that night life in the city needs to change to suit its requirements. Commissioner of police, Balwinder Singh shares his view: Do you think night life is in tune with the changes in the city? Things have changed. People work at odd hours. Flights come in at night. A lot of people have been asking for a change. I think we need to work on it.

So what is stopping you? A lot of these rules have been in place for years and I took over three months ago. The law and order situation has to be viewed. Everything needs to be in place when we decide to change closing hours. I’m trying to take opinions of people from various fields. Would the late hours also extend to liquor shops and pubs? That needs to be looked into.

I’ve observed that drunken driving cases start at around 9-10 pm and peak by midnight. We need to take care of traffic safety. If we need convenience stores and restaurants, we need to speak to the labour department. How long would this process take? A month or two and I think we should have some kind of extension on hours. I’m working on it.