Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Kerala government is busy fighting to rein in the coronavirus spread, it has found some time to sanction six more liquor bars in the state last month.
The government has issued licences to six new bars despite its entire machinery is being used for controlling COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 case in India was reported from Kerala when three medical students from Wuhan in China tested positive for the disease. After this, the state tightened its vigil and controlled the spread of the virus with several measures, setting an example for other states to follow.
Two bar licences each have been issued in Wayanad and Malappuram, while one each in Thrissur and Kannur. With this, the state has 600 bars now.
All licences were issued between February last week and March 12. After getting the government's nod, the bar owners in Wayanad remitted the fee and got their licence numbers on March 27 and 30.
As these payments were made online, the COVID-19 restrictions did not prove to be a hurdle for them.
As per the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government's liquor policy, bar licences can be given to hotels in the three-star category and above.
Only 29 bars functioned in the state when the LDF government came to power in 2016. The government gave the nod for 164 new bars during the past four years along with renewing the license of bars shutdown earlier and upgrading those with beer parlour licenses.
Kerala's per capita liquor consumption is above the national average and cash from the liquor outlets is one of the major sources of revenue for the state government.
On an average the Kerala government-owned Beverages (Manufacturing & Marketing) Corporation Ltd (BEVCO) sells bottles worth Rs 35 crore to 40 crore a day (last fiscal the sales fetched nearly Rs 15,000 crore; in addition, there is the annual excise revenue of nearly Rs 2,500 crore).
