- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Indian City Authorities Ask Bars to Dissuade Customers From Getting Drunk

© AP Photo / Saurabh DasIn this Friday, Dec. 12, 2014 photo, a drunk man offers his shoes to his colleague who passed out after consuming alcohol in New Delhi, India
In this Friday, Dec. 12, 2014 photo, a drunk man offers his shoes to his colleague who passed out after consuming alcohol in New Delhi, India - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The diktat has kicked off a controversy with bar owners arguing that they can ask customers to undergo breath analysis to check if they can safely drive but cannot ask them to limit consumption.

New Delhi (Sputnik) In a bizarre move but with noble intent, the city of Chandigarh in India’s north has directed all bar owners to install breath analyzers (alco-meters) in its premises. Issuing an order, Chandigarh’s excise department has asked around 125 liquor-licensees to ensure that customers consume alcoholic drinks within the legal limits.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, Chandigarh’s excise department said the installation of alco-meters will make people aware of the legally prescribed limit of alcohol consumption as well as the ill-effects of over consumption.

“Alcometers will give those leaving the bars an opportunity to check the alcohol level in their blood in the interest of their own safety and others before they drive,” said authorities.

Supreme Court of India - Sputnik International
India’s Supreme Court Allows 13-year-old Rape Survivor Late-Term Abortion
According to Indian law, permissible limit of alcohol in the blood is 30mg per 100 ml. However, experts contend that alcohol absorption in the blood stream is dependent on the body mass of the person and the amount of water content in the body, making breath analyzers a superfluous method of ascertaining whether alcohol level in a person’s body is safe for driving or not. The speed with which the liquor is consumed and the time before the person starts driving affects the results of the breath analyzer, they say.

Meanwhile, bar owners are also crying foul as the order does not mention the implementation of the rule on the many small-scale taverns that attract more local customers. Moreover, pub and bar owners have also argued that asking a customer to take breath analysis test would be okay but asking them to limit consumption would tantamount to poor hospitality, affecting their business.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала