Withdrawal of liquor ban lifts spirits in Chandrapur

CHANDRAPUR: The announcement by the state government to revoke the liquor ban in Chandrapur district has lifted the spirits of people.
While people in general looked enthused with the decision, erstwhile bar and wine shop owners are eagerly waiting for issuance of the government resolution by the state excise ministry.
Commoners celebrated the revocation of the ban. While there were a few posts criticizing the government, memes celebrating the withdrawal of the ban dotted Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.There were 561 different types of excise licences in Chandrapur, including 110 country liquor retail (CL3), 24 wine shops (FL2), 318 beer bars (FL3) and 25 beer shoppes (FLBR2).
With imposition of prohibition in Chandrapur back in 2015, the then BJP-led government had asked all liquor sellers to surrender their licence with the state excise office.
However, after the liquor ban, 18 FL2 and 8 CL3 had transferred their licence out of Chandrapur to other places, while the rest remain suspended with the state excise office here. “We are waiting for the government resolution. It will have the formal date of reopening of the sale of liquor as well as the procedure that would be adopted to restore the suspended licences of beer bars, wine shops and other types of liquor outlets in Chandrapur,” said excise superintendent Sagar Domkar.
Owners of beer bars, country liquor and wine shops too were seen excited with the government decision. “There will be lots of document work once the GR is issued. Those whose licence has been suspended will have to submit the requisite documents, no-dues and no-objection certificates to the excise department. After proper scrutiny of documents, the district collector would consider our suspended licence for revival,” said president of Chandrapur Liquor Association Parvindarsingh Bhatiya.
The state government has stopped issuing new licences to wine shops and country liquor retailers since decades. However, there is no restriction on issuance of licence for beer bars. It is likely that all the earlier beer bars in district would resume their businesses. However, it is not clear whether those who transferred their FL2 and CL3 licences would return to Chandrapur.