Permit rooms adjoining liquor shops have become the breeding ground for drinking in public on main thoroughfares in the city.
Barring a few swank shops in the city selling premium brands of liquor like the one on Lal Bungalow road, all others have permit rooms where the customers guzzle their choice brands and take to the roads. Not to mention, their tipsy gait often becomes a menace for road users.
When the permit rooms were started in 2016 in the middle of 2015-17 licence period, the government had stipulated a fee of ₹1 lakh per annum for setting them up. However, the fee was built into the licence fee of ₹1.10 crore per annum payable by shops in the period 2017-19.
The rules envisaged that the owners provide a minimum accommodation of 100 square metres adjacent to the shops for setting up permit rooms but there was no upper limit. It also said that the owners should not provide any facilities like seating and sale of eatables. But, liquor outlets on city outskirts like Karmanghat, L.B. Nagar and Boduppal boast of vast open spaces that are rented and covered with temporary shelters. The customers are also provided tables and benches; at some places even large stones are propped up like benches for the convenience of the tipplers.
The vends around selling eatables and loud voices of the customers fill the air from noon till the closure of shops at 11 p.m., said a vendor selling fried fish. He often adds to the noise by hitting the frying pan with ladle to attract customers’ attention.
Earlier, the business hours of shops was 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., but 2017 onwards, it has been extended to 11 p.m. The closing hours for bars in the city is midnight and 11 p.m. for rest of State.
Hyderabad accounts for a lion’s share of liquor consumption in the State with the turnover of each shop ranging from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh a day. The State-wide earnings from liquor sales, both beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor, crossed the ₹19,000-crore mark in 2018-19
The shops were auctioned by government by draw of lots with a fixed number for identified localities in city. However, inability of licensees to rent premises at targeted locations resulted in shops coming up in close proximity. The norm that they should not be located close to temples, schools and hospitals was also observed to have been breached.
There has been a decrease in the number of shops in the city after 2012 as the government deleted some notified outlets in auctions as they were unviable. Otherwise, shops at Madhapur, Jubilee Hills and other major commercial centres do brisk business.
