Out of a total of 2,084 wine stores and bars in entire Assam, 564 wine stores and bars are located in Guwahati and the rest are distributed among other districts of Assam.
Moreover, the districts with the most bars and wine shops are cities or towns; very less bars and wine stores are located in rural areas resulting in illegal production and sale of illicit liquor in many districts of Assam.
The reason behind such a skewed distribution of liquor shops is because of a loophole in the Excise Act. All these days, liquor licenses were transferable from one district to another.
To resolve the issue the cabinet recently approved the amendment in the Assam Excise Rules 2016 prohibiting the inter-district shifting of all liquor license premises within the state since it was creating an imbalance in the distribution of liquor shops across the districts and thereby creating space for the illegal sale of liquor.
Assam excise minister Parimal Suklabaidya, talking to G Plus said, “Many people used to take out licenses in one district after availing all the required permissions and later transfer the license to another district resulting in lack of liquor shops in some districts which is the cause of illegal illicit liquor sale, illegal IMFL sale in many places.” He claimed that such incidents will be stopped after this amendment in the act.