The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : MSIL to open 431 shops for liquor sale

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

MSIL to open 431 shops for liquor sale

Special Correspondent

Excise Commissioner will decide the locations, says Katta Subramanya Naidu

The shops will sell liquor at MRP rates
Lifting the ban on arrack ruled out

Bangalore: The government-owned Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) will open 431 shops in towns and in rural areas of the State to sell liquor.

Minister for Excise Katta Subramanya Naidu told presspersons here on Thursday that the Excise Commissioner had been authorised to decide the locations for opening the liquor shops. MSIL would sell liquor at MRP rates, he said.

The Excise Department had issued licences to open 7,950 shops last year.

However, 450 licence holders had not set up shops till now because of various reasons. As there were no liquor shops in every five km in rural parts of the State, several persons were indulging in spurious liquor business.

Many grocery shops in rural areas were selling liquor illegally.

To eliminate manufacture of spurious liquor and stop illegal sale of liquor in grocery stores, the department had permitted liquor shops in every five km. But in some rural areas there was no shop in every five km.

The sale of liquor was one-and-a-half times more in rural areas compared to cities and towns, the Minister said.

There are 7,500 liquor shops in the State, and of them 2,500 were in Bangalore city alone.

The department had now permitted shifting liquor shops from one place to another in the same district. There was no such provision earlier, Mr. Naidu added.

The Minister ruled out lifting the ban on sale of arrack and lotteries.

“There is no thinking at the Government-level to lift the ban imposed on sale of arrack in the State,” he said.

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