Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has just uncorked a bottle of hope for the youngsters who miss the vibrancy of a metro culture after a day's hectic work schedule.
In his interactive television programme aired on Sunday, the chief minister said the government was mulling on opening pubs in Kerala. Pinarayi mentioned the proposal while acknowledging a complaint by many, including IT professionals, that they lack the facility for some recreation in the state after their hectic work schedules.
The chief minister, even when making the proposal, was cautious to mention that the government was going ahead with its proposed policy of promoting abstention of alcohol.
Sources in the excise department said no paper work on the proposal has been initiated yet.
Excise commissioner S Aananthakrishnan told Onmanorama that the department has not received any details of the proposal. “It is a policy decision to be taken by the government. As of now, we don't have other details,” he said.
Sources said the proposal to open pubs had come up for discussion during a meeting held by the chief minister to discuss some grievances of the automobile firm Nissan recently.
“Employees of the Technopark have for long been demanding that they need a recreational facility, including a pub, on the campus. They had submitted requests to the current as well as the previous government. However, no decision was taken on those requests,” a source in the excise department said.
Technopark employees first mooted the suggestion after around 700 bars were closed under the partial liquor prohibition policy implemented by the Oommen Chandy government from April 2014 to March 2017. As part of the policy, only five-star hotels and government-run outlets were allowed to sell hard liquor.
However, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government reversed the policy allowing bars attached to three-star hotels and above to serve hard liquor.
The LDF government claims that the UDF government's liquor prohibition policy was a failure. The government backed its claim with the statistics that show that sales of Indian Made Foreign Liquor dropped by 7 per cent during the period while sales of beer grew by 80 per cent.
Welcoming the chief minister's proposal, an employee of a multinational company at InfoPark, Kochi, said it would boost the economy even as helping people relax.
“I'm happy to see that Kerala is transforming into a global community. Such facilities are needed in a modern democratic and progressive society,” he said.
“If knowledge industry has to grow in the state, it needs the social conditions suitable for it,” he said.
He made it clear that arguments such as opening pubs would pollute culture and promote anarchy are baseless. “People have the discretion to decide how to use such facilities,” he added.
