Telangana: Old hands block entry of new wine licencees

Hyderabad: The liquor syndicate in the state, which failed to grab wine shops licences in the recent draw under the new excise policy, has come out with a ‘goodwill’ move to get back the wine shops from the new licence holders. 

The syndicate is creating hurdles in launching the new shops for those who are not willing to fall in line.

Majority of the new licence holders from the city outskirts are facing problems in identifying a location for starting retail outlets. Within 5 km distance from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction, the government had fixed a licence fee of Rs 1.1 crore and those who spent the amount are now facing a threat from the liquor syndicate.

A licence holder from Patancheru, who is not willing to be quoted, said that the new policy was more encouraging compared with the old one, which used to auction wine shops. “When I asked the old dealer about his shop, he came up with the ‘goodwill’ move, and asked me to part with the licence. When I found another shop and completed the formalities, the old licence holder forced the locals to stage a protest against the wine shop. The deadline to start the shop is October 10,” he said.

The liquor syndicate  is working hard to create impediments to the new licence holders in city outskirts. 

As per the statistics of the excise department, 456 shops in city outskirts are under the '1.1 crore licence category and more than 40 per cent of them are facing a threat from the old licence holders.

S.Y. Qureshi, deputy commissioner of prohibition and excise, said that the department would not interfere in such issues. “As per the notification, the department will issue the main licence to shops established by October 10. We are supplying liquor to the new licencees based on the provisional licence,” he said. 

TS government issued notifications for 2,216 wine shops and got 15,309 applications

• Majority of shops in prime areas did not get many application
• Hyderabad city got 145 applications for 183 shops. 
• 62 shops did not get application 
• Janpahad in Suryapet district got 134 applications for a single shop