124 applications for 88 bars under GHMC limits

The effect of the Supreme Court’s judgement on bars and wine shops is clearly reflected in the applications received by the Excise Department for the setup of new bars within Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. The Department has received only 124 applications for 88 bars. Officials say that the competition for bar licenses is usually much higher. In the past they have received a minimum of three applications for each bar.

The low number of applications could also be a result of the non-refundable application fee of `1 lakh. In the past, there were no restrictions on the areas where bars could be set up. But after the Supreme Court judgement, applicants are not sure about which areas are restricted, and they are afraid to lose `1 lakh in the process.

According to representatives of the Wine Dealers’ Association, many businessmen have been hesitant to submit applications despite having expressed an interest. Source say that Excise officials have already cleared five of the applications that they have received, for the setup of new bars in Hyderabad city.

Blockage services

The TS Excise Department has temporarily halted its internet service, to safeguard its data against the ongoing malware attack. In a circular issued by Excise Commissioner R.V. Chandravadan, it was announced that C Tel Infosystems was temporarily shutting down its High Performance File System (HPFS) website, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing attack.

It further said that all of internet operations could be performed seamlessly through the existing Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) system, until the HPFS service was resumed. The Excise Commissioner said that after careful examination of the issue, in order to protect the HPFS system, and to safeguard government revenues, it had been decided that all retailers and stakeholders would be allowed to conduct transactions through MPLS connections at their nearest excise offices.