Last-minute weekend dry days notice irks Noidawallahs

NOIDA: As the Noida authorities declared three dry days due to the bypoll elections to be held today, liquor sale was prohibited in the city from 6pm onwards on September 11, and will go on till 6pm today. Apart from this, September 16, the day when the votes would be counted, would also be a dry day, according to the notice issued by the district magistrate.A notification regarding the same was issued to all the bars, restaurants and nightclubs in the city. Many Noidawallahs were left disappointed when they visited clubs and restaurants on Thursday evening and saw a notice put up at entrances regarding the dry days. While customers are complaining about changing their plans and party venues at the eleventh hour, club and restaurant owners are worried about losing their weekend crowd to Delhi, Gurgaon or Greater Noida due to the last-minute notice.
'Have to change our plans now'
Tanmoy Chatterjee, a resident of Sector 50, says, "I had planned a surprise party for my best friend this weekend. But now, with this sudden dry day notice being issued to all the clubs, sara plan chaupat ho gaya. I have to shift the venue now at the last moment. It's going to be very hectic for all of us to travel all the way to Delhi or Gurgaon and then get back to Noida late at night. But we don't really have a choice." Says Himanshu Bansal, a resident of Jalvayu Vihar, " I went for dinner with a friend on Thursday evening when I saw a notice stuck at the main gate of the restaurant, that read in bold letters – ‘Dry Day'. It was very disappointing as we didn't expect something like this. So, we had to change our plans at the last moment."
'Went to Delhi to party'
Harkishan Singh, who resides in Sector 93, tells us, "I went out on Thursday evening with friends hoping to party till late." "But when we reached the club, we were told by the manger that because of the dry day rule, they would not be able to serve us liquor. So, we went to Delhi and partied there," says Harkishan.
'Daaru ke bina hi party'
Vaibhav Singh, a resident of Sector 19, says, "I was planning a get-together at my place and was thinking of getting the booze from the nearby theka. Lekin sab theke band hain. Finally, humne decide kiya ki daaru ke bina hi party kar lenge."
Eatery owners fear losing weekend clientele to Delhi, Gurgaon
Manish Pandey, manager of Lawn Bistro in Sector 15A, says, "The notice was issued on September 10, due to which we didn't have enough time even to intimate our customers.We could only manage to inform our regular customers via phone. The dry days are certainly affecting our business. Also, being a weekend, we'll end up losing a lot of our customers to restaurants in Delhi and Gurgaon." Adding to this, Prashant Chandna, owner of the restaurant, tells us, "Unfortunately, the dry days are falling on a weekend, and weekends are usually the time when we get the maximum amount of walk-ins. Some relaxation should have been granted to at least the restaurants as we largely have family customers."
Besides the restaurants, many nightclubs and lounges in Noida have also been expecting a dry spell over the three days. Says Ankit Das, owner of Reverb in TGIP, "The three dry days have surely curbed our business, especially because they fell on a weekend. Many of our regular customers who visited on Thursday evening weren't even aware about the dry day notice, and left the club early. I feel that the sale of liquor should not be prohibited in clubs and bars as we don't sell liquor by the bottle, as per governing laws."
'We had to cancel our events'
Ajit Sharma, manager operations, Ice Cube lounge, says, "The notification was issued on Wednesday, so, we hardly had any time to inform our customers. Weekends are usually packed, and we had planned a major event at the club on Saturday night which we had to cancel because of the notice, incurring a big loss. We have already sent a message on our social media page about the dry day over the weekend and the cancellation of our events. Our sales are surely going to suffer because of the dry day weekend. On the other hand, Greater Noida is not observing a dry day. So, majority of Noida people might go there. We have also got a notice issued for September 16 which would be the counting day and will remain a dry day."
'Hope to do better today evening onwards'
Neeraj Kumar, manager of The Tandoori Village in Sector 63, tell us, "The notice has surely affected our business. We usually get a lot of bookings on weekends from our corporate clients. But we don't see many of them visiting us this weekend. During the day, there isn't much of a crunch. It is mainly in the evenings that we get customers who order drinks, and we will not be able to serve them because of the dry day notice. The dry day is till 6pm today. So, hopefully, from evening onwards, things will get better for us."