The KCR government in Telangana has decided to extend caste-based quotas in permission to set up liquor shops in the state. As per reports, the TRS-ruled state cabinet has approved a decision to extend reservations to the Backward Castes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribe communities in the state for the opening of liquor shops.
As per reports, the decision was approved by the cabinet meeting chaired by CM K Chandrasekhara Rao at the Pragathi Bhavan, Hyderabad. The excise department has stated that they also intend to provide concessions on license fees and application fees to the SC and ST communities.
The KCR government had earlier announced that to boost entrepreneurs among the backward castes, it will provide reservations in tender and auction of liquor shops.
As per a report in TOI, the Telangana government earns over 25,000 crores annually in revenues from liquor licenses and sales alone. The liquor outlets were categorised into 4 slabs till 2019 and after that, it was divided into 6 slabs. There are expectations that the license fees will see a 15% to 40% hike in the coming months. The application fees, that is now at Rs 2 lakhs, is expected to rise too.
As per the decision, starting from the upcoming revenue year, that is November 1, 15% reservation will be given to the Backward Castes (Gowda community), 10% for the SCs and 5% to STs in permissions granted to open liquor shops in the state.
As per a report in Deccan Chronicle, at present, there are 2,216 licensed liquor shops in the state. The government plans to increase the number of shops by at least 226. Under the new reservation policy for licenses, the reserved categories can take around 50 shops.
The cabinet also approved additional funds for road repair and directed the health department to speed up the construction of new medical colleges so as to start classes from the 2022-23 academic year. It asked officials to increase the production of medical oxygen from 280 metric tonnes to 550 metric tonnes. Directions were given to concerned departments to keep sufficient beds and medical equipment ready to face the situation if there is a spike in Covid cases among children as the schools in the state have reopened since September 1.
