Thiruvananthapuram: The state excise department has renewed 60 bar licences and 2,112 toddy shop licences till Friday.
Twelve more applications for renewal of bar licences are still pending, with the department expecting more application in coming days.
As per the LDF government's liquor policy announced recently, hotels with three-star and four-star classifications can have bar licences, apart from five-star hotels which already have the licence to run bars. They will commence function from July 2.
The maximum number of bar licences were issued in Kochi - 17, followed by Thiruvanantha-puram - 13. In the case of toddy shops, the maximum number was at Palakkad - 526. In Thiruvananthapuram it was only three while it was 288 in Kochi.
According to excise department sources, more applications are expected in the coming days and around 100 more bars may become functional in the initial weeks of July. The number of three and four star hotels that earlier had bar licences were around 150.
However, many of them had not renewed their star classifications after they lost the bar licence following previous UDF government's liquor policy. Hence the number of hotels that already applied for bar licence were comparatively low. Such hotels will have to renew their starclassification and seek renewal of earlier licences.
Some new three and four star hotels that earlier had no bar licences had now applied for fresh licences. But in those cases, the licences would be issued only after going through a stringent process. Hence it may take some time.
