Luxury hotels and bars in Uttar Pradesh have been given the green light, by the state government, to serve alcohol till early morning.
Under the new policy, bars will be allowed to serve alcohol till 2 AM, whereas luxury hotels will be allowed to serve alcohol till 4 AM.
The government made this decision in order to increase additional revenue. And, this new policy is likely to be implemented in the next financial year that begins in April 2020.
Sanjay Bhoosreddy, the officer in-charge of Uttar Pradesh’s excise department said:
Bars and hotels will both have to pay the government additional fees to extend their time slots – Rs 5 lakh for starred hotels to 4 am and Rs 2.5 lakh for bars to 2 am.
That’s not all. The state government is also going to put bar codes on liquor bottles so that consumers can check if the liquor is real or not.
However, this move has received criticism from Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and some Twitter users too, as they believe it will increase crime rates in the state.
What are your thoughts?