BHOPAL: New liquor shops, to be open after nine years in the state, will begin functioning as sub- shops.
The excise department put up a proposal for setting up liquor sub-shops six months ago, but Chief Minister Kamal Nath stopped it.
The government has, however, accepted the proposal to better the state’s financial condition which is in a mess.
The proposal for setting up liquor sub-shops will not be put up before the cabinet, but it will be directly approved and then sent to the cabinet.
The liquor contractors will be able to open sub-shops if there is no such outlet within the five km in the city area and within the 10 km in the rural area.
The yearly payment for opening such shops has also been fixed.
If the yearly price of the shop is Rs 2 crore, a contractor has to make extra payment of 15% of the annual price.
If the price is between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, the extra payment will be 15% up to Rs 2 crore, and for the rest, it will be 10%.
If the price is above Rs 5 crore, a contractor has to make extra payment of 15% up to Rs 2 crore, and 10% up to Rs 3 crore. For the rest, 5% of extra payment will be made.
Nevertheless, fee for opening new liquor shops will not be increased.
In 2011, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan decided not to open new liquor shops in the state so no new outlets were set up.
In 2018, Chouhan banned sale of liquor within five km of the Narmada and decided to shut down the liquor outlets there.
There are 1,061 shops of foreign liquor and 2,544 outlets of country-made liquor.
Consequently, after the decision to open liquor sub-shops, the number of outlets, especially in rural areas, will increase. The target of the excise department is to collect Rs 13,000 crore.
But in the present situation, the target may not be achieved by March, but the government has decided to increase the number of liquor outlets to boost its earning.
After the decision, however, the BJP will get ammo to attack the government.
BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agarwal said his party-led government had reduced the number of liquor shops, but in the 150th birth anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress is encouraging opening of such shops.
It clearly indicates that the Congress always employs double standards, he said.
