Over 700 liquor outlets to reopen

Around 750 liquor outlets in the state that were adversely affected by the Supreme Court liquor ban will reopen with the excise department set to renew retail licenses.

1,311 liquor licenses along highways in the state were previously hit due to the Supreme Court judgement. With the government issuing the order to the Excise Department to implement the relaxation given by the Supreme Court, the process for renewal has started. The order from the Finance Department came on July 24 to renew licences of outlets in 54 villages, in Colvale, Guirim, Tivim, Bambolim, Sancoale, Dabolim, Verna, Nuvem, Navelim, Chinchinim, among others. A three-member committee of ministers comprising of Francis D’Souza, Vijai Sardesai and Rohan Khaunte was set up to recommend the parameters based on which relief could be given to liquor vendors. The committee decided that all villages classified as census towns can be treated as municipal areas and licenses in the villages can be renewed.

In Goa, with the national and state highways cutting across cities and towns, 3,200 outlets were affected by the judgment. After representation for relief from liquor retailers and from several state governments, there were several relaxations given by the apex court in its judgement.The relaxations are related to the distance and in the category of areas around the highways. It brought down the number of affected in the state down to 1,311 outlets. The government said that the revenue generated from renewal of license fee by the Excise Department during 2017-18 was `13.1 crore. For the period April 1, 2018 till date, an amount of `16.1 crore was collected as license fee

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