HYDERABAD: The government has decided to sanction one bar licence for a population of 13,000 in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits.
The state government recently issued guidelines for sanctioning of bar licences in GHMC limits, municipal corporations, Nagar Panchayats among others.
A government order (GO) has been issued to this effect. According to the GO, municipal corporations other than GHMC, municipalities and nagar Panchayats will have one bar sanctioned for a population of 30,000. This means if a municipality has a population of 30,000, one bar licence will be sanctioned. If the population is between 30001 and 60,000, the civic body will have two bar licences in its limits.
As per the latest guidelines, the new bar licences will be sanctioned sparingly as per the criteria. For this, the population of 2011 census will be verified.
However, this does not mean there would be a sudden rise in the number of liquor shops in the state, said president of the Telangana Wine Dealers’ Association D Venkateshwara Rao. “The recently-issued GO is nothing but reiteration of the existing rule. From the time of former CM YS Rajashekar Reddy, there were no guidelines to issue licenses,” he said.
He further stated that there would not be any increase in the number of liquor outlets in Hyderabad main city but predicted an increase in liquor shops in Greater Hyderabad area. “The licenses issued for liquor outlets has reached a saturation point and there would be no new bars in the central city,” he added. In GHMC limits, one bar licence will be sanctioned for a population of 13,000; i.e, for a population between 13,001 and 26,000, there would be two bar lincences.
The government will continue its policy to grant new bar licences to three-star restaurants and higher category hotels located in GHMC, municipal corporation limits, municipalities , tourism centres and nagar panchayats without any restrictions.
In case the number of applications for bar licence is more than the permissible number of bars, the selection will be made on the basis of draw of lots among all eligible applicants and in their presence duly stipulating a date and time.