Telangana earns Rs 960 crore for liquor forms

Hyderabad: When the Andhra Pradesh government took over the liquor business, it helped the neighbouring Telanga-na government earn huge revenue through selling of application forms for wine shop licences.

The Telangana government has earned `960.64 crore through the application fee which is not refundable. This comes as a great relief to the Tela-ngana government which is in a financial crunch.

The Telangana government has received a record 48,032 applications for 2,116 wine shops across the state.

Though the government has increased the application fee from `1 lakh to `2 lakh, it has sold more number of applications than the last time. Previously, the state government had received 41,000 applications and earned `412 crore.

Because of the AP government’s move, businessmen, who have been selling liquor in the neighbouring state, have applied for liquor retailing licenses in the bordering divisions of Khammam and Nalgonda.

Khammam district has received the highest number of applications in the state — 4,303 for 89 liquor shops. Kothagudem district is next with 3,410 applications for 76 wine shops. Kamareddy district has received the lowest number of applications - 475 applications for 40 wine shops.

There are 10 excise divisions — corresponding to the old revenue districts — in the state. Ranga-reddy division earned the highest revenue at `170.44 crore followed by Warangal division with `162 crore and Khammam division `154.26 crore.

In the Hyderabad division, the state government earned `29.98 crore.

For Hyderabad, the government has received 788 applications for 79 liquor shops and 711 applications were received for 94 shops  in Secunderabad.

On an average, for each shop, 21 applications were received. Applications were received for all 2,216 wine shops this time. Last time around 100 shops received no applications.

The special chief secretary of the revenue department Somesh Kumar on Thursday clarified that in case the selected applicant is not willing to take the licence, or is not present to take the licence, he will be liable to pay the government a sum of `5 lakh as penalty.

The selection process will be continued by taking a fresh lottery if necessary. He said that the procedure will be continued till an applicant is selected for the shop. He said that even if the applicant is not physically present, the drawing of the lot shall be taken up.