NEW DELHI: Hotels, clubs and restaurants will have to put up boards warning people against the consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, the excise department has directed through an official circular. The circular said the absence of such display boards will result in action taken against the establishment.
“It is hereby directed that all the HCR (hotel, club, restaurant) licensees shall fix the display board for awareness regarding ‘consumption and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances is prohibited in law and punishable with rigorous imprisonment and fine’,” the circular read.
The licensees will have to fix the display boards at two prominent places. They also have to submit the compliance report and documentary evidence to the excise department within 10 days of receipt of the order. “Non-compliance of the said circular will be viewed seriously,” the circular said.
The number of hotels, clubs, restaurants and other on-site liquor serving premises in the city has increased by 10 per cent since last year, when the new excise policy came into effect. According to the excise department data, the total number of such premises until May 6 was 964, and that included 162 hotels, 698 restaurants, and 48 clubs, besides banquet and party halls, and motels and farmhouses licensed to serve liquor.
The latest excise policy of the Delhi government was implemented in November last year with the opening of privately-owned liquor vends across the city. Last year, the excise department had invited applications from establishments for serving liquor on their premises.
(With agency inputs)