Kerala govt wants all Sundays to be dry days, edges towards total prohibition

The Kerala state government, which earns the most in the country from liquor sales in the state, is planning the unthinkable to every resident of the state: prohibition of alcohol in a phased manner.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today announced that Kerala will allow only 5-star hotels to serve alcohol in the state from 1 April, 2015, reported the Economic Times_._

The Kerala government also said that the state’s alcohol distribution chain will close 10 percent of its outlets annually. Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) reportedly has 338 outlets at present while another state-owned alcohol store chain Consumerfed has 46, the report said.

According to official statistics released by the state government in 2013, the liquor consumption in the state was 1.76 gallons per person.

An NDTV reportsaidthat the Congress-led UDF government was also working on a proposal to make every Sunday a dry day in the state.

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The state has also decided not to renew the licenses of 418 liquor bars whose licenses were not renewed this year and the remaining 313 bars in the state will be shut by next year or earlier depending on the legal advice the state receives.

However, the curbs on sale of alcohol and bars is not expected to affect the local alcohol industry of the state which brews toddy.

The move by the state government reportedly comes as a result of pressure from women’s groups, religious leaders and allies like the Muslim League that have been pushing for curbs of alcohol in the state. The state government had earlier raised the drinking age from 18 to 21.

Chandy said that the government would draw up a rehabilitation and re-employment plan for people affected by the new policy on alcohol sales and consumption.

The Kerala government gets 22 per cent of the total revenue from the sale of alcohol and was close to Rs 8,000 crore in 2012-13, according to a Hindu BusinessLine report. Presently only fourstates in the country: Gujarat ,Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur have complete prohibition.