Mumbai: Nearly 48 years after the state policy opposes to create or issue a new license for the sale of liquor or consumption, the State Excise Commissioner has proposed a category of new licenses for the Premium Liquor Shop and Bar at Mumbai Airport.
If made, this new license category can be expanded in the future to Metro, Mall, Multiplex and other city center stations that attract tourists, industrial observers.
Delhi has a separate liquor license for the airport.
According to airport licensing proposals, two separate license categories – one in consumption (open) and others consumption (sealed) – can be made.
One reason is that shops and bars inside the airport don’t have to follow dry days and can operate 24 hours unlike shops and bars outside.
Moreover, they save and serve various premium brands too.
Proposal, which was sent by the Commissioner of the UMAP Cantilal Excise on May 14, 2021, to the Primary Secretary, the Excise of the State, in Mantralaya based on a memorandum delivered by Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) which shows the need to treat bars and shops at the airport as a separate category , The main secretary, excise, Valsa Nair Singh confirmed to accept the proposal, but said there was no step made to bring it further.
Umap doesn’t comment.
Maharashtra has not issued a new liquor license since 1973 and in 1989, when Sharad Pawar is the main minister, a resolution was authorized in the Assembly that if there was a new liquor license to be issued, the proposal must be presented in assembly.
Mumbai has a variety of license categories or liquor permits for shops, hospitality business people and clubs but not for the airport.
However, Punjab and Delhi have a separate category for airport facilities.
In Maharashtra, all licenses at the airport were released under FL2 and FL3, which were also given to shops and bars outside the airport.
The UMAP letter said: “To facilitate this, Mumbai’s 1953 foreign liquor regulations must be amended, where the notification concept will be needed based on certain criteria such as separate licensing fees for the airport installation.” Mial say there is a difference between liquor stores outside the airport and inside, because the airport allows entering only passengers and officials who work there.
Therefore, it argues, the shops and bars inside the airport deserve a separate category.
At Delhi airport, there is a separate authority to run a shopping center at the airport and therefore, those who have rented a space there apply to licenses of liquor separately, the letter was added.
In Mumbai, licenses can be issued on behalf of businesses that have employed space within the airport based on rent.