Proposals to shut liquor shops gather dust

AURANGABAD: In a classic example of red-tapism, the recommendations sent by the Aurangabad commissioner of police, seeking cancellation of licences of 10 liquor shops which are serious threat to law and order situation, has been gathering dust for over a year. Recently, the city police recommended closure of two more shops.
The recommendations were sent to the state excise superintendent C B Rajput and district collector Nidhi Pande, requesting immediate decision on the issue.
The shops include wine shops, beer bars and country liquor shops -- four under the jurisdiction of Harsul police station, five in the limits of Mukundwadi police station and one each from the limits of Osmanpura, Jinsi and Daultabad police stations.
The first recommendation for cancellation was sent for a beer bar in Tilaknagar on September 2, last year.
In most of its recommends for permanent cancellation of the liquor shop licence, police have cited serious threat to law and order situation in the area. In one case, the request was based on the fact that it is located in the vicinity of a school.
But, the recommendations are gathering dust at the office of the district collector and at the state excise office.
Commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar said, “Liquor shops and some bars have become the source of law and order problems in a number of areas in the city. We have decided not to allow these set ups to function in our limits.”
The officer said that the residents of the area also do not want the liquor shops to function.
“We have sent the recommendations over a year ago but, so far, no decision has been taken on them. The authorities should either accept or reject our recommendations, instead of sitting on them,” Kumar said.
The state excise department authorities, however, took exception to the recommendations and expressed their inability to act upon them.
State excise superintendent Rajput told TOI, “We are studying the recommendations and we fear that there is no provision to do what is being recommended by the city police. We will take a call on each of the recommendations in the next few days.”
Sources at the district collector’s office said that there is a process for shunting out a liquor shop or cancelling the licence of the shop. Nothing can be done unless the process mentioned in the notification is followed.