Mixed response to wine shop auctions

- The annual licence fee for liquor shops in Vizag city limits falls to Rs 16.25 lakh from Rs 65 lakh for 2017-19
- Officials expect that the real-estate businessmen may enter the trade to try their luck, but they hesitated, but the latter kept away

Visakhapatnam: Around 5,000 people applied online for 384 liquor shops in Vizag (urban, semi-urban and rural) district on Thursday when deadline for submission of online applications ended. Though the officials of excise department anticipated unprecedented number of applications due to reduction in annual licence fee, the response was not as expected.

Deputy excise commissioner Ch Gopalkrishna said the response was not much as they expected this year when compared to last year. In 2015, the excise department has notified 467 shops and they had received 5,846 applications for the 329-liqour shops and there were no takers for 38 liquor outlets. As per the new excise policy for 2017-19, the excise officials notified 401 liquor shops in Vizag district, including 154 shops in GVMC limits.

“We have received just 4,873 applications for 384 liquor outlets up to 7 pm on Thursday and the number may cross 6,500 at the end of deadline (8pm). We didn’t receive single application for 17 liquor shops,’’ he added.The annual licence fee for liquor shops in Vizag city limits has reduced to Rs 16.25 lakh from Rs 65 lakh for 2017-19. Initially, the officials expected that the real-estate businessmen may enter the trade to try their luck, but they hesitated.

As per the new policy, a person can open a shop anywhere in the GVMC except those close to the religious places and educational institutions. And there is no limit of distance between two shops, said Assistant commissioner of excise and prohibition SVVN Babji Rao.

Sources said that as the Apex Court on Thursday reserved its order on a batch of petitions by some states and private parties seeking modification of its order banning liquor vendors, along national and state highways, some people didn’t apply for licences. The excise officials will allot the shops through lottery system on March 31 and the new licences will come into force from July 1, 2017 and the tenure will be till June 30, 2019.

5,036 applications for 239 shops in Srikakulam dist
Srikakulam: Liquor traders are busy in submitting applications, along with deposits for shops in Srikakulam district, as the last date for submitting applications is on Thursday. The government issued notification for liquor shops across the state as previous policy ended on Friday and new policy will be commenced from April 1 onwards on par with financial year as against previous tradition of liquor policy.

In Srikakulam, notification was issued for 239 liquor shops. “We received applications till 6 pm on Thursday for all 239 shops. In all, 5,036 applications were submitted by aspirants and draw of lots will be conducted for each shop separately on Friday from 2 pm onwards and sales will be commenced through shops from April 1 onwards,” excise in-charge deputy commissioner M Siva Prasad told The Hans India.

Heavy rush in Vizianagaram
Vizianagaram: The counters are crammed with the applicants, who came to apply for licence for liquor shops, here as today is the last day to apply for the licences. So far, the excise department received around 1,500 applications for the both Parvathipuram and Vizianagaram excise divisions.

Vizianagaram district has 210 liquor shops in various mandals and municipalities. The officers of Vizianagaram division received around 900 applications for 141 shops. For Parvathipuram division, they received 400 applications for 69 shops.

Based on the licence fee, the applicants are required to pay around Rs 50,000 and Rs 75,000 as application fee which is non- refundable. On March 31, the staff will select the licensee for each shop though draw of lots.

Excise department superintendent A Shambhu Prasad is supervising the process at AG Auditorium and directing the staff to make necessary arrangements. He said that after processing all the applications and they will conduct draw of lots on March 31.

Some persons, who are already in the business, are dropping eight to 10 applications for each shop to test their luck. For this they are even ready to spend around Rs 5-8 lakh towards application fee. They feel if theyget even a single shop, it would bring good income and can recover all the expenditure from the business.

A Vijay of Vizianagaram, said: “We have been in the business for the past 15 years, so we again applied for some shops and handed over the application to the officials.” Dwarapureddy Srinivas of Parvathipuram, said: “I have applied for three shops here and paid the non-refundable cheques to the officers. If I get a single shop in the draw, I will be lucky. Otherwise I would lose Rs 7 lakh.”