The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to allow bars in big cities to remain open up to 2 am and those in five-star hotels till 4 am. The move has been cheered by bar and hotels owners who have been demanding increase in the timing for a long time.
Principal Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy said the decision, which would come into effect on April 1, was meant for the convenience of guests, particularly foreigners.
Liquor Sellers Welfare Association (LSWA) leader KL Maurya welcomed the decision and said he hoped the government would increase the time of business hours of the shops also.
Licensed bars in major UP cities used to remain open up to 1 am or 3 am if they were located in five-star hotels. Now, hotels in small cities can also apply for a liquor licence.
The annual license fee to serve liquor in 50-room hotels in the bigger cities will be Rs 10 lakh from April 1. These cities include Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Agra, Allahabad, Lucknow and Varanasi.
The licence fee for category-2 cities has been fixed at Rs 7.50 lakh per year. These cities include Bareilly, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Ayodhya and Firozabad.
The annual fee for category-3 cities is now Rs 5 lakh and for category-4 towns Rs 2.50 lakh, it was announced last week.
Under the new excise policy, shops selling beer will be allowed to sell wine also. Besides, a licence fee will be charged from to serve liquor on board luxury trains, which was free earlier.
The government has also decided to give licences to airport lounges and hotels located outside the airport where airline passengers stay.
To check adulteration, all liquor bottles will have bar codes so that the consumer can check for spurious liquor.
The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet last week had given nod to the 2020-21 excise policy under which the licence fee for selling country-made liquor was increased by 10 per cent, the licence fee for serving beer by 15 per cent and for foreign liquor by 20 per cent.
KL Maurya said the government did not address their demand to increase the time of opening of shops. He also pointed out that the government was yet to consider their demand for roll-back of its decision on e-banking payment for the liquor sellers.