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Bars in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack continue protest

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

Beer bars and liquor shops in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in Orissa remained closed for the third consecutive day on Monday in protest against the state government's decision to hike licence fee.

Although Excise Minister Anand Acharya agreed to meet representatives of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Orissa, the talks were unlikely to produce anything positive.

The Bharatiya Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government announced its new excise policy on March 30 immediately evoking angry protests from bar and liquor shop owners.

Under the new policy, fee for trade-off licences and bonded warehouse licences has been fixed at Rs 4 lakh. The annual licence fee for on-shops and beer parlours in three-star hotels has been fixed at Rs 3 lakh.

While the annual licence fee for stocking Indian-made-foreign-liquor in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Berhampur, Sambhalpur and Rourkela has been fixed at Rs 2 lakh, it's much lower at Rs 50,000 for other places.

In a memorandum HARO has termed the government decision as "unilateral, arbitrary and unimaginative."

"The hike would have an adverse impact on the tourism industry. The licence fee in Orissa is the highest in the country," the memorandum added.

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