HYDERABAD: The Telangana Excise Department is likely to give permission to more than 200 new liquor shops soon. Officials have initiated an exercise on the guidelines for these. According to sources, Excise Department officials have decided that this will increase the government’s revenue. The existing licences for liquor shops will expire in October. In view of the decision, Excise officials are on the hunt for suitable places to allocate new liquor shops. The Excise revenue has been more than `9,000 crore during the current financial year. There are 2,220 liquor shops run across Telangana which generate huge revenue.
“The two-year licence policy for the existing shops is coming to an end by October this year. To enhance revenue, Excise officials have instructed staffers to identify places in newlyformed mandal headquarters and districts for new shops. If officials feel that any place has potential business value, the department will allocate two shops in each mandal,” officials said. Hundreds of new mandals have been formed in all districts.
“To prevent belt shops, we will set up more liquor shops in new places to generate revenue and to facilitate better services. The new liquor shops will also have the same guidelines as per the Excise policy. Some changes might be introduced at the time of issuing notifications,” officials said. Once in every two years, the Excise Department issues permissions for liquor shops. Applicants have to pay `2 lakh as deposit.