Summary:
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has cleared licences for prominent supermarkets and individuals to sell high end global brands from malls.
Out of the 10 applications made to the excise department, the first four licences have been cleared for Agra and Lucknow.
In Agra, a mall has already begun sale and in Lucknow, air-conditioned liquor vends are being readied for sales shortly.
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Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has cleared licences for prominent supermarkets and individuals to sell high end global brands from malls.
Out of the 10 applications made to the excise department, the first four licences have been cleared for Agra and Lucknow.
In Agra, a mall has already begun sale and in Lucknow, air-conditioned liquor vends are being readied for sales shortly.
“The six other applications _ two from Moradabad and one each from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur _ are in different stages of clearance,” said additional chief secretary, excise, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy.
Excise department officials feel that soon about 60 of the 66 malls that got the Cabinet nod in May, would have premium retail liquor vends.
The annual fees for running such vends is Rs 12 lakh, lesser than what the government charges from standalone liquor vends.
“There is no restriction on how many liquor vends can be opened in a mall...so the licence fee has been kept low,” the officer said.
Tarun Taneja, a city-based businessman who applied for two licences but got one, said he was all set to open his liquor vend in a Lucknow mall.