More than 3,500 bars and restaurants, and about 1,300 bars attached to hotels offering boarding and lodging facilities, opened on Saturday to clear their stocks even as wine merchants urged the government to allow them to purchase fresh stocks to continue with their business.
On a day that bars opened for businesses to clear stocks, the Federation of Wine Merchants’ Association, Karnataka, shot off a memorandum to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa seeking to be allowed to continue their business even as it thanked him for providing temporary relief.
Of about 11,000 various categories of liquor licence holders in the State, about 4,500 stand-alone outlets of wine stores and State-run MSIL operated wine stores had been earlier allowed to open.
The federation said that bars and restaurants have huge power bills, wage bills and bank loans among other expenditure, and allowing them to purchase fresh stocks would help tide over financial issues. Since bars and restaurants are also working like wine stores, they can be allowed to continue their business, they argued.
.jpg?w=600)
