Liquor shops at shopping malls soon: Minister

Vijayawada: Liquor shops will be permitted in shopping malls having more than 10,000 square feet area, according to Minister for Excise and Prohibition Kollu Ravindra. Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, he said that so far eight applications were received from shopping malls of Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Nellore.

He said that a decision will be taken after finalizing the liquor shop licenses in Prakasam and Kurnool districts. The minister said that 400 government outlets were present in the district. The excise staff are maintaining the shops and outsourcing staff will be posted to manage the government outlets.

He said the government liquor outlets were set up to curb irregularities in liquor sale. He said steps have been taken to prevent flow of arrack in both East Godavari and West Godavari districts along Godavari river course as thousands of devotees visit the districts to have a holy dip in the river.

The minister ruled out the reports of allotment of liquor shops to cooperative societies. He said there was no such idea. The minister said the government has identified 25,000 beneficiaries of Backward Classes to provide financial assistance. He said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has allotted Rs 6,640 crore for BC sub-plan.

He said another 25,000 beneficiaries would be identified and financial assistance would be provided to BC youth through ten federations. He said the state government is committed for the welfare of BC sections and the BC sub-plan would help for economic uplift of BC sections.