Wine shops and bars in Andhra Pradesh could soon lose the opportunity to derive blessings from divine sources to boost their fortunes by naming their outlets after the Indian Pantheon of gods.

Sri Venkateswara wines, Kanakadurga, Siva Shakthi, Shivam wines, Raja Rajeswari and a host of popular deities’ names commonly used in the business will be passé as the State Government has issued a GO (Government Order) against the use of such names. Violators will face prospects of be prosecution with fines, according to Minister for Excise, Kollu Ravindra.

Retail shop owners and liquor traders will now have to muster their spirits, draw on their down-to-earth business acumen, and hard sell their products to face market competition.

New State policy Under the new liquor policy 2015-17 announced by the cash-strapped State recently, there will be no scope for syndicates and middlemen as well, claims the Government, which itself wants to regulate and organise the lucrative liquor business, which brings in thousands of crores in revenue to the exchequer.

The State wants to set up one liquor shop run by it in all the mandals. It would help in keeping checks and balances on the sale of liquor. About 10 per cent of the total 4,380 shops will be allotted to government. These outlets will be run under the supervision of the AP Breweries Corporation Limited.

There is also a clear move to ensure there is no permission granted to wine shops along highway roads, which are often a trigger for the high number of road accidents.

Sale of IMFL In order to generate more revenues and make purchase easier, the Government has decided to allow malls and hyper markets in all cities to sell liquor.

The policy also allows the long-pending demand of liquor manufacturers to sell Indian Made Foreign Liquor in tetra packs of 90 ml in the State. In Karnataka it is estimated that 35 per cent of liquor sold is in tetra packs.

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