Kerala favours licence raj for toddy shops

thiruvanathapuram: kerala chief minister ak antony, fresh from breaking a 32-day strike by employees and pushing a reform agenda, presided over a cabinet meeting recently that decided to introduce a licence raj for toddy shops instead of the auction system. the former left democratic front (ldf) government had stopped the auction system and handed over toddy shops to toddy co-operatives. the udf government has now scrapped the co-operatives in favour of the licence system, which will earn the government only rs 24 crore as against the rs 140 crore it got from toddy shops when the auctioning system was in force. kerala’s new liquor policy features an individual licensing system for toddy shops, according to which an individual will be allowed to hold only a single toddy shop licence. the government has also decided to slash the number of toddy shops by a third, from the current level of 5,972 to 4,000 outlets. despite a biting financial crunch, the government decided not to go in for an auctioning system for toddy shops, and limit its revenues to rs 24 crore from the toddy sector by selling licences for 4,000 toddy shops.