JAIPUR: In what would provide some breather to the distressed hospitality industry, the state finance department on Friday exempted 25% of the basic liquor licence fees.
Bars in hotels, restaurants and clubs are out of business due to the lockdown.
As per the order, the bars which have already renewed their licences for the current financial year as of June 11 will be eligible for the waiver.
While the government will not refund the exempted money, the notification said the same will be adjusted for the licence fees for 2022-23.
The hotel and restaurant industry has been demanding the waiver of the licence fees for at least for the first quarter as the establishments remained closed due to the state government’s lockdown guidelines.
Ranvijay Singh, joint secretary of Hotel, Restaurants Association of Rajasthan, said, “While we are thankful for the relaxation, we would also like to draw attention of the government to the issue of penalty on short lifting of the liquor.” The bars have to pay a penalty if they fail to sell 10% more liquor compared to the quarter in the previous year.
Singh said since all the hotels and restaurants remained closed, there is no way they can sell 10% more liquor compared to the previous quarter.
“We also request the government to waive off the penalty,” added Singh.
The industry had submitted a list of demands like refunds of pending SGST payments with the government, auto renewal of all licences and grant of industry benefits among others.
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