56 bars shut down, but state meets target

Over 56 bars and several wine shops in the suburbs shut down this year after they did not renew their licence. While the excise department managed to meet its target revenue, officials said they had to force establishments, who earlier sold liquor illegally, to get permits.
However, the state government seems to have gone soft on city bars and wine shops and not increased their licence fees for 2012-13.
“We had set our revenue target at `160 crore and we met it by generating `158.89 crore. The state excise department generates the maximum amount of revenue from renewal or issuance of licences that are mandatory for selling liquor,” said a senior excise officer.
According to the officer, while they met their target, several establishments in the city had not renewed their permits or licences and had to shut down.
“As many as 56 bars have shut down in the suburbs alone have shut down, as they were running in losses after the government hiked the duty on liquor by around 40-60 per cent last year,” he said.
N.M. Mudairaj, superintendent of excise, suburbs, said, “There were several establishments that were selling liquor without permits. We registered offences against them and made them get the licence. Also, there were several pending government dues and penalties which we collected from the defaulters.”
Another officer said that since these establishments did not renew their licences, the revenue loss amounted to over `3 crore.

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