Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Government’s plan to set up retail liquor shops opposed

Opposition: Members of Gulbarga District Wine Merchants’ Association staging a protest in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: President of the Gulbarga District Wine Merchants’ Association Veerayya Guttedar on Friday demanded that the State Government give up its plan to set up 431 retail liquor shops through Mysore Sales International Ltd. (MSIL) to compete with private liquor outlets.

Terming the proposal “illogical” and “meant to squeeze private liquor outlets out of market”, Mr. Guttedar said the Government should drop the plan in the overall interests of thousands of workers and dealers depending on retail liquor business.

Wine merchants, who took out a procession and staged a demonstration here under the leadership of Mr. Guttedar to register their protest against the “strong-arm” methods of the Government against licence-holders who market liquor in the State, wanted the Government to reconsider reduction of profit margin on liquor sold in retail outlets to 10 per cent from 20 per cent.

Mr. Guttedar said it would be impossible to run the retail liquor business with a profit margin of 10 per cent and the Government had given no reason for reducing the profit margin.

He also wanted the Government to give up its plan to increase licence fee for retail liquor outlets and bar and restaurants. At the time of banning arrack, the Government had doubled the licence fee for retail liquor outlets from Rs. 2.25 lakh to Rs. 4.5 lakh a year. Now it was planning to increase the fee by Rs. 1 lakh, he said and added that it be highly taxing on owners of the outlets.

The wine merchants, who took out a procession from Jagat Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office raising slogans against the Government, submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the district authorities.

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