Limited timings irk wine shop owners in Telangana

Hyderabad: Wine shop owners across the State are seeing red over the Prohibition and Excise Department for allowing them to sell their stock only in the morning hours from 6 am to 10 am. “Whether we do business or not, we must pay Rs 30,000 as monthly tax to the government. After lockdown is imposed, […]

Hyderabad: Wine shop owners across the State are seeing red over the Prohibition and Excise Department for allowing them to sell their stock only in the morning hours from 6 am to 10 am.

“Whether we do business or not, we must pay Rs 30,000 as monthly tax to the government. After lockdown is imposed, how can we do business in the morning hours?” asked a wine shop owner stating that the peak hours for selling liquor and beer was from 6 pm to 9 pm.

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The Association of Liquor and Beer Manufacturers had already requested the Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) to keep wine shops open for six hours preferably between 10 am and 5 pm in case lockdown was declared.

This will curb illicit production and movement of liquor and also check any serious risks related to drinking spurious or sanitizers as reported last year.

But nothing concrete has been done in this regard while preparing guidelines, the shopkeepers alleged. They said they were facing problems after the department started imposing Covid cess in addition to problems faced due to prohibition on sale of liquor during holidays on account of festivals, elections and other important days.

“The sale of liquor is no more a profit generating business these days even after witnessing rush at the shops,” the shopkeepers said, adding that they have been facing problems since March 2020 after the outbreak of Covid-19.

The sale of beer during the ongoing summer was also not encouraging. “Amid these problems, how can we pay salaries of staff, shop rent and electricity bills apart from buying liquor and beer stock from the depots of Telangana Beverages Corporation Limited?,” another shopkeeper asked.

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