In what may be seen as a major modification to Kerala’s liquor policy, the state government is reported to have decided not to shut down any more liquor outlets.
KP Saikiran reports for The Times of India that the LDF government has decided not to shut down 10% of liquor outlets this year as per the liquor policy enforced since 2014.
The government order cancelling the previous UDF government’s order is yet to be issued by the Pinarayi government, says the report.
According to the policy, 10% of liquor outlets would shut down on October 2 every year. Since 2014, 68 Bevco and 10 Consumerfed outlets have been shut, reports TOI.
With the state government cancelling the shut down, 306 remaining outlets will remain functional. This includes 270 Bevco outlets and 36 consumerfed outlets.
In 2014, the abkari act of 1967 was amended to allow complete prohibition of sale of alcohol. Only hotels with five star and above classification were allowed to sell alcohol.
For the UDF government that implemented the liquor policy despite Bevco being one of the highest revenue generator for the state, it had however failed to retain them in the assembly election held in May.
Though the UDF government had heavily counted on the implementation of the policy to ride them back to power, controversies surrounding the policy had taken a toll on the previous government.
Since the LDF government assumed office, the government had maintained that the state is not looking forward to total prohibition of liquor, but reduction in consumption.