Cover charges

Nightouts in Maharashtra, and especially Mumbai, have become a costlier affair. The almost-broke Maharashtra government last month announced a steep hike in the entertainment tax applicable to discotheques, bars with dance floor (in Mumbai lingo known as dance bars), video parlours and bowling alleys.
Under the proposed tariff, five-star hotels in Mumbai will have to pay Rs 2 lakh a month for running a disco compared with the current fee of Rs 50,000.
Discos will pay Rs 1 lakh a month compared with the current Rs 25,000. Discos in five-star hotels outside Mumbai will be charged Rs 1 lakh a month compared with Rs 40,000 at present.
Discos outside the city would have to fork out Rs 50,000 monthly instead of the current Rs 15,000. Mumbai alone houses as many as 16 discos and the rest of Maharashtra has three.
Dance bar floors would be required to pay three times the present tax amount. For example, such bars in Mumbai were charged Rs 10,000 per month.
Now the government has proposed to increase the fees to Rs 30,000. While Mumbai has 277 dance bars, elsewhere in the state, the number is 128.
Video parlours too would now pay Rs 1,000 a month compared with the present tariff of Rs 500. The total number of video parlours in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, is 5,500.
Bowling alleys will be charged Rs 5,000 per lane compared with the current Rs 1,000. Outside Mumbai, the charge will be Rs 3,000.