Barred from serving booze, they provide bar-like arrangement

Hindustan Times

08-05-2025

LUCKNOW Composite liquor shops, authorised to sell only sealed bottles and cans, are providing bar-like facilities by serving alcohol and food to customers in the state capital besides running kitchens without food licence, which is in violation of Uttar Pradesh Excise rules. A shop of country-made liquor and a composite shop where sitting facility is developed. (HT Photo)
Enforcement officials remain silent despite violations within a few hundred metres of police stations and excise offices.
The city has around 400 composite shops. Many of these, which operate as takeaway shops, have turned into illegal consumption hubs. Areas like Shahnajaf Road, Indira Nagar, Kapoorthala, Hazratganj, Gomti Nagar and others are emerging as hot spots where alcohol is served on the premises in violation of norms.
During a ground investigation by Hindustan Times between Saturday and Tuesday, people were seen drinking inside a composite shop through side entrances or curtained rooms, pointing to unauthorized on-site consumption. At several shops, customers were even being served food alongside liquor, mimicking bar-like setups.
One such composite shop on Shahnajaf Road, barely 50 metres from the Police Commissioner's camp office and around 3 km from the Excise Department's district office, was found serving liquor on its premises during multiple visits. The shop's allottee has not been granted permission to convert it into a 'model shop' - the only type of shop allowed to offer on-site liquor consumption under rules. But the facility is illegally operating as a place where people sit and drink inside a portion developed by the allottee on the premises.
There is another composite liquor shop at Kapoorthala where an allottee has developed a standing drinking facility for customers beside the shop. Similarly, a composite shop close to Lekhraj Market also has such a facility.
District excise officer Karunendra Singh confirmed that the composite shops are not permitted to allow on-site liquor consumption.
'No composite shop has the right to or serve drinks and offer seating arrangement. This is only allowed in model shops or country-made liquor vends on payment of annual consumption fee,' he said. However, excises officials have so far not started any checking of shops after the allotment process.
Singh added if such shops get caught, a minimum fine of ₹ 2,000 and even more could be imposed on the allottees under the provisions of Section 60 of the UP Excise Act, 1910.
However, activists say that the 'meagre fine amount' hardly serves as a deterrent for violators.
Excise department insiders revealed that converting a composite shop into a model shop involves a formal transfer process and a payment of around ₹ 3 lakh annually for a consumption licence. 'No such licence has been issued recently for shops on Shahnajaf Road close to Hazratganj and in other areas as well,' an official said.
The excise department is soon set to bring new rules for composite shops, where owners, if eligible, can convert their shop into a model shop after paying licence fee to the department, said an excise official.
Locals and traders expressed concern over the alleged collusion between liquor shop owners and enforcement authorities.
'Everyone in the area knows that alcohol is being served inside these shops, but no one dares to speak. Officials see it daily, yet do nothing. Without their support, this can't happen,' said a citizen.
Sources informed that similar violations are taking place at multiple composite shops across the city. However, action from the excise department has been negligible.
'The department only takes selective action. In many cases, they raid just one shop to show they are working, while others continue business as usual,' a source said. People fear that unchecked violations could lead to a rise in anti-social activities.