Now, many an establishment will be forced to cough up the cash or cut out from the scene completely. The only way to streamline the system and bring some order to it, says the government. Not a pretty option, retort most owners. In fact, a crippling, if not downright lethal blow. "That is too much. I don't even know how they have arrived at this figure. Normally, coin-operated games and video parlours pay Rs 500 per machine per month. Why this excessive amount for just pool, I cannot understand," says Mahendra Vijan, owner of Arcadium, the game gallery at The Sands Hotel in Juhu.The face-off began when a 30-member delegation of the city unit of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS), the ShivSena's student body, met cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar on the morning of April 12 to demand a ban on pool parlours in the city. Atul Sarpotdar, the chief organiser of the BVS and son of Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Madhukar Sarpotdar, refutes the point. "We had not asked for a ban to begin with. All we wanted was to put a stop to all the irregularities going on in these places. Liquor is freely available, some places employ girls to teach the game, and most of them are open till the wee hours of the morning. The fact that heavy betting goes on in these places is the biggest open secret in the city," he said.

When asked to name a few places where all of the above occur, Sarpotdar failed to deliver. Pool parlour owners, on the other hand, demand to differ. "We have never seen any betting going on in our parlour. If it happens between two individuals, we can do nothing to stop it, but there have been instances where we have actually kicked people out on that account," says Ajay Chavda, thegeneral manager of Razzberry Rhinoceros, which has three pool tables.

The ploy is clear to pool enthusiasts and owners alike -- to do away with the game. For, the implementation of Rane's order would automatically mean shutters down for many of the parlours that have cropped around the city, much like public telephone booths at every street corner.

"If we will have to pay that much money, we may not be able to continue for long," says Somnath, the owner of Fireball, a two-table joint in a central suburb. Many small-time entrepreneurs who jumped into the fray to make hay while the fad lasted are in the same boat. Simply because returns are not as big anymore. "Apart from maintenance, air-conditioning and a few accessories, what do we take home? At Rs 50 a frame, even if we get 50 customers a day, what's left? And 50 a day is optimistic. The AC alone costs me around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month, and I pay equal amount in rent," says another pool parlour owner in Chembur who does not wish to benamed.Many of the disgruntled lot of parlour owners and enthusiasts of the game feel that this is the only way the government can shut down these places and kick the party-going crowd in the opposite direction. Why, no one has managed to figure out.

The chief minister's office, strangely, chooses to remain silent on the issue. Only after the ordinance has been promulgated will the finance department reveal what made them come up with the figure of Rs 5,000. This should take about another week or two. Until then, they cannot comment."Why should people have a problem?" asks Navalkar. "Pool is a simpler version of a dignified game like billiards, the only objection I have is that there is no dignity left to the game anymore. Do pool parlours check the age of people who come in? Or the age of the children before serving them liquor? And this business of spending without earning is too much -- an average person visiting these places spends a minimum of Rs 500. Where do they get that much money from? Are theirparents aware?" he says.

Navalkar insists that upping the taxes is a fitting solution, since beyond a point, the cost of operations will filter down to the customer. "When the price is too high, there won't be so many youngsters dropping their books and playing," is his contention.

Sarpotdar, on the other hand, says that taxes are the first step. They plan to approach the government for further regularisations such as closing down parlours that have sprung up in residential areas, and making sure that shutting shop time remains uniform throughout the city. "For this, we will also be approaching the owners, who will, no doubt help us out. Anyway, let us see how long this fad of pool lasts. I am sure it will barely be around for another six months, and then, all this would have been in vain," he quips.

Ruchi Sharma is a senior features writer with The Indian Express