HYDERABAD: Ahead of the announcement of the new excise policy, Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud said that there would be no increase in the number of liquor shops in the state. Allaying the fears of the Opposition, the minister informed the Assembly on Wednesday that the number of shops has not been increased after 2003 in the State.
“The same number of liquor shops which existed in 2003 is continuing now. There is no plan to increase the number of shops,” Goud said while adding that the number of retail outlets permitted in 2017 was 2,216.
The minister said that the government has decided to grow five crore palm and date trees.
He also said that the government would ask the experts to study the feasibility of promoting Neera, a healthy drink popular in Cambodia and Sri Lanka, in the State.
To buy ‘cloud space’
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said that the Transport Department has decided to purchase ‘cloud space’ to store the data of motorists. Ajay Kumar also said that the TSRTC has been incurring a Rs 2.55 crore loss every day. “The RTS’s per day income is Rs 13.37 crore but the expenditure is Rs 15.92 crore,” he said.
On-the-spot mutation
Housing Minister Vemula Prasanth Reddy said that the government is planning to do on-the-spot mutation simultaneously with the registration of documents. The details in form-B (Pahani) too would be updated in real time. The same details would be sent to the bankers, so that they would sanction crop loans without insisting on the Pattadar Passbooks.