The new Excise Policy of the UP Government has again shocked the small businessmen associated with alcohol. According to the provisions of the new policy which will be effective from April 1, 2019, the beer bar licenses for hotels and restaurants which were issued earlier, will not be renewed and new beer bar licences will not be issued. Under the new policy, only bar licenses will be issued.
The provision of termination of beer bars in the new excise policy has been made on the basis of complaints, on how some hoteliers and restaurant owners were offering liquor to customers after acquring beer bar licences. On one hand it was incurring revenue loss to the government , and on the other hand, those hotels and restaurant owners who had Bar licences their businesses were also affected.
According to the new rules, if someone wishes to take a beer bar licence for hotel and restaurants, then they have to get a license for bar and will have to deposit the fees according to it. As per the rule, any beer license will not be renewed from April 2019. So far, annual fees for beer bar was 2.5 lakh rupees, while for the bar license, the annual fees was 8.80 lakh rupees .
Talking to Cheers.com, Secretary General of the UP Alcohol Association, Kanhaiyalal Maurya said that the closure of beer license could increase chances of chaos. According to him, the fees for beer licence was low, and the number of those who received it was high; only bar licences would be given as per the provisions of the new policy, it would be difficult to stop the illegal availability and use of beer in small restaurants and hotels. Maurya said that for the bar licence the hotels and restaurants will now have to pay about four times the fees, which is probably not possible for all. Association’s treasurer Suresh Pratap Singh said that the hotel and the restuarant Association were already opposing the decision to end beer bars. The association will soon meet the Excise Commissioner of UP on this issue and demand to withdraw this provision.
Cheerrss Desk