Bars everywhere in Telangana State from June!

Hyderabad: Urban folks will soon have the facility to drink alcoholic beverages in a sophisticated hall in every municipality in Telangana as the State government is set to grant licensed bars in all urban local bodies.

The cash strapped government which is eyeing to generate more revenue through liquor sales has decided to spread the bar culture in all new municipalities constituted after the formation of Telangana. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the State government increased the number of municipalities to more than 120 from 68.

Top officials of the state Excise and Prohibition department told The Hans India that the Excise officials conducted a survey on generation of revenues in the new municipalities and ULBs which have not been permitted to open bars so far.

Nearly 40 new municipalities have been identified as potential places to open the bars and sell liquor. Officials said that currently, more than 1000 bars (60 per cent of them in Greater Hyderabad limits alone) were opened in Telangana and another 80 to 100 new bar licenses will be granted by June this year.

Considering the growing demand for bars in the major municipalities and municipal corporations, the number of bars in the identified ULBs will also be increased. Bar permissions are granted in every urban body based on the total local population.

For every 30,000 population, one bar license is given in the municipalities. After the merger of many villages in the old municipalities, the number of population has increased and this will allow the government to permit for new bar licenses. However, the license fee collected from the owners will remain unchanged.

The application fee for new bars will be increased to Rs 1 lakh from the present Rs 50,000.

The proposal to increase the number of bars in the municipalise has been sent to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his clearance. Once it gets the approval, the Excise department will call for applications from traders to open bars in the new municipalities.