A+ A- As a first major step towards prohibition, the Andhra Pradesh govt. took over the retail liquor business while the price of liquor was increased to discourage consumption. Also Read Government takes over liquor shops in Andhra The businessmen, who have been selling liquor in the neighbouring state, have applied for liquor retailing licenses in the bordering divisions of Khammam and Nalgonda. Though the TS government has increased the application fee to 2 lakh, it has sold more number of applications than the last time. The Telangana government has received a record 48,032 applications for 2,116 wine shops across the state. Previously, the state government had received 41,000 applications and earned 412 crore. Telangana’s Excise Department has earned Rs 968 crore through the application fee which is non-refundable for liquor licences. The fee, collected this year is more than doubled than Rs 400 crore collected as application fee in 2017. The government has received 788 and 711 applications for 79 and 94 liquor shops for Hyderabad and Secunderabad respectively. According to a report of Deccan Chronicle, the special chief secretary of the Revenue Department, Somesh Kumar on Thursday clarified that in case the selected applicant is not willing to take the licence, or is not present to take the licence, he will be liable to pay the government a sum of 5 lakh as penalty.

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