Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF on Wednesday attempted to bring more clarity to its excise policy by announcing restrictions on granting bar licence to newly upgraded five-star hotels. The amendment in policy was announced by chief minister Oommen Chandy after the UDF's high power committee meeting. He said no new bars would be sanctioned during the remaining term of the government.
It is learnt that the decision was taken on the insistence of KPCC president V M Sudheeran who cited media reports of granting fresh license to six five-star bars by the government. TOI was the first to report the development on Sunday .
Sources said Sudheeran criticized the decision taken on the eve of election and said it would backfire on the UDF as the opposition would cite it to blame the excise policy. IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, who demanded a clarification on awarding bar licence to five-star hostels, too supported Sudheeran.
The UDF will bring in stringent regulations to regulate the construction of new fivestar hotels. “The conditions would be decided later after discussion within the UDF. The idea is to regulate the mushrooming of five-star hotels,“ said Sudheeran.
Meanwhile, the CPM termed the UDF liquor policy as `fake'.The party , which vouches for abstinence in its manifesto, preferred to keep the voters guessing on whether the `closed down bars' will be reopened if it came to power.
CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, tipped to be the LDF's chief ministerial candidate, told reporters that the electorate shouldn't arrive at any conclusion going by party general secretary Sitaram Yechury's recent assurance that the closed down bars wouldn't be reopened. “We will think about what Yechury said when we declare our liquor policy ,“ he said.
The CPM leader emphasized on the promises in the LDF's election manifesto including the one to raise the age limit to 23 years for liquor consumption and the larger awareness programmes to be initiated to reduce consumption and establishment of more de-addiction centres.
Pinarayi was quick to add the LDF did not revoke the UDF's ban on arrack when it came to power in 1996, `despite rumours'. “We hadn't declared any policy on the arrack ban during the elections, but decided not to revoke the decision when we came to power,“ he said, leaving the voters guessing.
Ve t e r a n l e a d e r V S Achuthanandan also criticised Oommen Chandy and his team on their `fake' liquor policy.
“The UDF's policy that promises total prohibition in 10 years is fake. Their original liquor policy is something else, which is evident in the issuance of liquor licence to new bars in the guise of five-star status,“ he said in a statement here.
TO BAN OR NOT
Prohibition phased or outright is never the solution to alcoholism. In fact, it is moot whether Kerala faces an alcoholism problem. The state consumes 14% of the country's alcohol but `growing alcoholism' is a contestable premise because more and more people enjoying a moderate drink or two is often conveniently conflated by politicians and self-proclaimed moralists with the social problem posed by habitual heavy drinkers.
Following the new liquor policy and the closing down of all non-5 star bars, average monthly sales of IMFL has come down to 18.75 lakh cases from 20.65 lakh cases last fiscal, but the average monthly beer sales has gone up to 12 lakh cases from 10 lakh cases last fiscal, while that of wine has gone up to 8,000 cases from 5,000 cases.
So is the policy even working?
The LDF differs from UDF in opposing prohibition per se but its `abdication' policy too panders to populism and remains opportunistically vague on specifics. We are inviting our readers to debate the pros and cons of prohibition.
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