The AP Excise officials are worried over lack of response from traders towards its invitation for the issuance of bar licenses in the state, with a time limit of about three years. Due to this, the deadline for receiving applications was extended to 6 pm on the 29th of this month under imperative circumstances. According to the initially announced schedule, the deadline ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
Out of a total of 840 bars, only 175 bars received applications. The rest did not receive any. According to the new policy announced by the government, only if 4 applications are received for each bar, a lottery will be held to select the licensee. However, only 56 bars received 4 or more applications. It is noteworthy that that too came in 15 districts.
The traders are not showing interest towards the government’s new excise policy, as they felt it is not in their favour and not profitable to them. The reason for this is that the lottery will be held only if at least 4 applications are received for each bar and the additional ARET of 15 percent has not been removed.
The government recently allowed the establishment of permit rooms in addition to liquor shops. The main reason for this is the rule that quarter liquor available for Rs. 99 cannot be sold in bars. While there are 130 bars in NTR district, only 10 bars and 110 in Guntur district received 4 or more applications.
Even in Krishna district, only seven out of 39 bars and 23 bars in Kurnool district received 4 or more applications. With this, a total of 3,332 people have registered their details by paying a processing fee of Rs. 10,000, and all of them will submit applications, according to excise officials.
Excise Commissioner Nishant Kumar has already said that the lottery will be held from 8 am on the 30th of this month. The Prohibition and Excise Department is organizing awareness programs so that more people compete for bar licenses.
It is known that a gazette notification was issued on the 18th of this month for the issuance of licenses for a period of three years. The government has reduced the application fee dramatically and is providing an opportunity for as many people as possible to compete.