“A few of the clauses in the norms set up by the state government for seeking licences for cyber cafés are unnecessary and creating problems in running the business,” Association President Rahul Pokale pointed out at a press conference. He said that the police have warned of action against the cyber cafés after the Ganesh festival for not possessing the licenses for it despite it being pointed out that some of the clauses are causing obstacles to obtaining of licences.

The clause of seeking a ‘no objection certificate’ from the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Health Department is unjustifiable as cyber cafés are not eating joints, Pokale said. He added that the clause requiring submission of building plans for cyber cafés does not hold significance as documents are not available with the civic administration for old buildings.

The provision of sufficient parking for visitors at cyber cafés — in accordance with the development control rules for commercial establishments — is not justifiable, he said. There are over 1,000 cyber cafés in the city and only one of them has been able to get a license from the police department.