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As anticipated the government has already been caught up with the tourism and bribery issues. Reportedly The Oommen Chandy government is grappling with bribery charges, economic setback and
legal challenges since it decided to bring the new controversial liquor policy. The tourism and labour departments had reported to the government that the new liquor policy led to loss in tourism sector and put at stake jobs of hundreds of hotel employees; 10 bar hotel workers are reported to have committed suicide since August, said Chandy. There were charges levelled against Finance Minister K M Mani that he had taken a bribe of Rs 10 million to renew liquor licence, according to a report in India Today. He is now facing a vigilance probe. Hotel bar owners also claim that they had given Rs 200 million to various ruling front leaders as bribe.
The CM justified the decision to allow bars to emerge as beer and wine parlours, saying that the new liquor policy was silent on that sector. He said a commission had earlier recommended promoting beer and toddy, which have less alcohol content.
Chandy said the order for Sundays as dry days was dropped in view of 60 per cent increase in the retail sale of liquor on Saturdays. Besides, it had affected the tourism industry as several weekend conferences have been shifted out of Kerala. "The decision to make all Sundays as dry days was mine and I thought if it would become a dry day, the families would be very happy. But it has not gone down well, so it was lifted," he said.
He stressed however that the spirit of the policy to bring down liquor consumption in the State remained intact, despite a climb down from his earlier stand. This despite a face-off between the CM and Congress’s state unit chief V M Sudheeran, who was against tweaking of the policy.
The decision to shut now operating 312 bars in the non-five-star category remains unchanged. "The earlier decisions that no three and four-star hotels would be given license stands. Also every year from now on 10 per cent of the 383 state-owned retail liquor outlets will close down. Already the first batch of 39 has closed down. On Oct 2, 2024, total prohibition would be in force in Kerala," said Chandy.However, a lot depends on the ruling of the court where a petition has been pending. Chandy clarified that even if the decision is implemented, these bars could still sell beer and wine.
He also said that an expert committee would be set up to study the impact of the new liquor policy.
For earlier Articles, Click:
Blog: Doomed Drinking Denizens of Kerala
Kerala High Court upholds Prohibition
Kerala Faces Partial Prohibition in Phases
The decision to allow conversions of the closed bars into wine and beer parlours is welcome even though it was anticipated. According to our reports the internal documents of the policy were intentionally silent on the issue of wine parlours and it had been decided to convert them into wine and beer parlours due to the lower alcohol content. This was a wise move and a boon for the wine lovers. The government has also been pragmatic about losing a substantial share of the tourism business which would have hurt thousands of people. However, the meeting has not addressed the issue of tax revenue loss and the mounting corruption it is going to generate. If the government believes that the alcoholics of Kerala will become teetotalers it is sadly mistaken. We maintain prohibition is not the answer and hope and believe it will be short-lived even as we heartily welcome the first practical and positive step-of allowing the wine and beer parlours to come up-editor |