No beverage outlets to be closed anymore.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of Kerala announced on Thursday that it will not go ahead with the liquor policy of the previous government which was based on total prohibition, reported Live Mint.
The Communist Party of India – Marxist-led government had earlier maintained that its liquor policy would be based on abstinence and not on total prohibition.
“39 beverage outlets (10% of total 390) were supposed to shut down permanently on this 2 October. We decided not to shut them down because we are for abstinence, not prohibition,” excise minister T.P. Ramakrishnan told Live Mint.
Though the government is yet to finalize its liquor policy, it is clear that the beverage outlets currently under operation would not be closed as done by the previous government under the leadership of Oommen Chandy.
The previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government had implemented a policy of shutting down 10 percent of the government-run liquor shops on October 2 (Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi) every year since 2014.
For reducing the consumption of liquor, the previous government had decided to allow bars to operate only in five-star rated hotels. As a result of this, about 700 bars across the state had to shut down and these were converted into beer and wine parlors later on.
It was one of the important promises in the election manifesto of the LDF that it would not go ahead with the liquor policy of the UDF government.
“We are very clear on what the policy should be. It will come into effect from the next fiscal year. Generally, the liquor policy is an annual affair and it comes into effect on the first day of every financial year,” Ramakrishnan said.
“We looked into the figures and found that liquor sales have not gone down, instead they have gone up. Our policy is being worked upon and it would have specific policies to see that the message of abstinence is sent out very strongly,” he added.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the government was trying to sabotage the prohibition policy introduced by the previous government.