The new bar policy announced by Chandrababu Naidu-led state government turned as a boon to bidders as the reforms introduced in the new policy aimed at making bar operations financially sustainable with drastic reduction in license fee and with a facility to pay the license fee in six installments, whereas the bar license bidders are forced to pay the total bid amount at a time earlier.
The drastic reduction in bar license fee provides great relief to bidders giving a chance for attracting more applicants . For example the bar license fee in Kadapa was reduced to Rs 55 lakh from Rs 1.97 crore earlier.
Likewise in Anantapur the license fee was reduced to Rs 55 lakh from Rs 1.79 crore, in Tirupati to Rs 55 lakh from Rs 1.72 crore earlier, in Ongole license fee was reduced to Rs 55 lakh from Rs 1.4 crore earlier and provided a facility pay the amount in six installments. Likewise the bar license fee in Salur of Parvatipuram Manyam district was reduced to Rs 35 lakh from Rs 71 lakh earlier.
In the new bar policy the application fee was reduced to Rs five lakh, whereas the bars in ninety per cent of urban local bodies paid more than Rs 5 lakh as application fee in the previous bar policy. Previously Application fees in Vizag, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Nellore, Guntur covering 362 Bars was Rs 10 lakhs for each application.
In Smaller Municipalities like Madanapalle, Chirala, Bapatla, Ongole etc covering around 399 Bars, Application fee was Rs 7.5 lakhs. Now the entire State, uniform Application fees of Rs 5 lakhs has been fixed. Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise Nishant Kumar said that the bar licenses will be allotted through a public draw of lots to encourage healthy competition.
He said the license fee structure has been rationalized to make bar operations viable. In towns with population upto fifty thousand the fee is Rs 35 lakh, for population above fifty thousand and up to five lakh Rs 55 lakh and for cities with population above five lakh fee of Rs 75 lakh was fixed which is 26% to 48% less compared to Retail A4 Shops.
Another major relied is that to encourage new Business aspirants and entrepreneurs, Restaurant is not a precondition. This opens the way for any one to participate in the policy, breaking the grip of old groups.