Govt to close belt shops, ban liquor brands

HYDERABAD: In the light of liquor deaths occuring in Guntur district the government has decided to close down all the belt shops -- unauthorised outlets, connected to the main licensed shops.
The government on Saturday set a dead line to the excise and prohibition officials to close all the belt shops in the state on or before August 25.
Though the excise department had earlier encouraged these shops all over the state to generate more revenue for the state exchequer, the government now directed the officials to seize all the shops in the light of the recent deaths which were blamed on liquor syndicate rivalry.
Further, the government banned Black Horse, Golden Fine and Indra brand of wine varieties in the state.
Reviewing the situation with the district officials excise and prohibition minister T Seetharam said that the department would take stringent action against the station house officers and other officials if they failed to meet the deadline.
"If bottles are found in any one of these shops on August 26, government would suspend the officials concerned and the licence of the manufacturer would also be cancelled. We will also send 75 teams on August 27 to keep a watch on the belt shops all over the state," the minister said.
Coming down heavily on the officials for having links with liquor dealers, the minister disclosed that the government had information about some of the district officers colluding with the liquor syndicates and also promoting brands on behalf of these groups. The department would remove those officers from the services after establishing the facts, he warned.
He directed officials to crack down on any kind of liquor syndicates and associations in all districts. The department will also not allow any shops to sell booze above or below the maximum retail price. The minister said that the government would also take steps to contain the spread of Illicit distilleries in view of the closure of the belt shops.
Meanwhile, the government had decided to withdraw the Government Order which had empowered the excise and prohibition officials and barred the police to inspect the wine shops keeping in view of the allegations that the police officials were harrasing the liquor dealers.