UP govt to open 449 new liquor shops

To boost liquor sales in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to open 449 new liquor shops in the coming weeks.

The Excise Department is expecting to achieve significantly higher revenue through retail licence fees.

While in the last financial year, close to Rs 3,000 crore was generated through licensing of 29,522 retail vends, this time the department is eyeing at Rs 3,600 crore revenue.

Officials said that the decision to set up 449 new shops has been taken due to rapid urbanisation and mushrooming of new colonies. As a result, 55 out of the 75 districts in the state are going to have new shops.

Among them, Lucknow, Bahraich, Mau, Unnao, Sultanpur, Kanpur and Ayodhya will have 15 to 23 new vends due to rapid expansion of urban limits.

District excise officer of Lucknow, SK Mishra, said, "In Lucknow, 23 new shops have been floated and an online lottery procedure is underway. We have considered the distance between existing shops and the population base within that distance. He added that localities which hold potential for liquor business have been selected to set up shop.