UDF to close all bars in Kerala by April 2015

State targets total prohibition in 10 years; to promote toddy, soft beverages

A high-power committee meeting of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) has decided to close all the 312 bars, which are in operations, from April 1, 2015. Chief minister Oommen Chandy announced this after the meeting at Thiruvananthapuram today.

The committee also decided not to open the 418 bars, which were closed  three months ago. Besides, all the star category hotels, except 5-star, will  not to be allowed to serve Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL). In short, from April only 5-star category hotels/resorts can serve liquor. Kerala, at present, has 36 hotels in this category.

The UDF also decided to maintain ‘Dry Day’ (no sale on these days  through retail outlets) on all Sundays. It already observes 1st of every month and four holidays like Mahatma Gandhi and Sree Narayana Gur jayanthis as dry days. The chief minister said 52 days would be added to this category through the latest decision. This would effectively mean Kerala will not get IMFL for 68 days in a year.

Moreover, new retail outlets of the Kerala State  Beverages Corporation will not opened in any part of the state, To introduce total prohibition in ten years, 10 per cent of the existing outlets will be closed. The corporation currently has 332 outlets across the state.

Chandy also said the government would extend support to the rehabilitation of employees in the bars and hotels, and a programme — Punarjani-2030 — will be introduced for the purpose. One per cent  of the total  revenue of the beverages corporation would be utilised for the campaign against the use of IMFL, he added. The government will promote the use of toddy, a local beverage produced from coconut trees, and other soft beverages, which have low alcohol content.

The UDF’s decision is likely to have a lasting impact on the Kerala politics because of the strong pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Kerala Congress, Janata Dal and a strong section of the Congress have supported this.  The Catholic Church too had strongly advocated for prohibition. Clemese Catholicose, president, Catholic Bishops Council of India (CBCI) even threatened the ruling front today, by saying that if the already closed 418 bars re-opened, it will be disastrous for the ministry.

Today’s decision, is however, is a major setback to the Ezhava community as most of the bars in the state are being run by the members of this community.

Kerala, which comes second in per capita consumption of liquor after Punjab, gets a tax revenue of roughly Rs 8,500 crore annually — 22 per cent of the total tax revenue —from the sale of IMFL. The per capita consumption in Kerala is around seven litre per year while the national average is only 2.5 litre.