Protesting against the State Government not accepting their certain demands, the MP Liquor Traders’ Association on Monday declared to close down their outlets indefinitely.
The two warring factions have been busy discussing their demands for a while but the State Government did not bow down to the pressure exerted by the liquor traders prompting the latter to close their outlets.
The decision was taken despite the fact that a petition on the issue is pending with the MP High Court and next hearing is scheduled on May 27.
The liquor traders were repeatedly urging the MP Government to lower the licence fee in the wake of the shops remaining closed for well a month which adversely impacted sales, according to them.
The State Government did offer some relaxations but majority of the traders were not satisfied with these measures.
In between the Excise department had also threatened to cancel contracts of these liquor shops.
Sources also claim that a section of the traders are of the view that the shops should continue to operate while the other section is adamant on exerting pressure on the state government for accepting their demands including lowering licence fee.
The association representing 90 liquor shops had recently announced not to reopen their shops in the rural areas, as allowed by the district administration.
Amid lockdown 4.0, the Shivraj Government has allowed green zones to reopen liquor shops while those falling under red zone are yet to get the approval for liquor sale.