Four ministries (and who knows how many departments of state services) are involved in the procedure for the issuance of operating licenses to nightclubs. However, the great number of laws and the dispersion of responsibility provides a hotbed for lawbreaking and corruption. Often we see one department turning against the other. The same club that is ordered to shut down by one department is later granted permission to stay open by another.

As a result, clubgoers are exposed to a wide range of dangers. And we don’t need some accident to remind us of the hazards.

The government must listen to the persistent calls of local administration officials. Responsible officials must study the proposals and streamline legislation on the prerequisites for the operation of a nightclub. Or they may find themselves accomplices to a future mishap.