Govt allows serving liquor till 1 am on New year Night

K. Chandrashekar Rao government has granted permission to state excise department to permit bars and licensees of event permit managements to serve liquor till 1 am on 31 December and 1 January on New Year night.

“Prohibition and Excise Department – Permission to sell/serve liquor by 2B (Bar), C1 (In-House), EP1 (Event Permit) and TD1 (In-House) licensees of Tourism Development Corporation up to 1 AM on the intervening night of December 31, 2021 and January 1, 2022 to keep the A4 licenses (Retail shops) open up to 12 midnight of December 31, 2021 on the eve of New Years Day celebrations – Orders – Issued,” reads the Telangana Revenue Department order.

Permission was also accorded to keep liquor shops open up to 12 midnight on December 31 on the eve of New Year in relaxation of the rules in vogue, subject to observance of Standard Operating Procedures, of Covid-19. Recently, the Telangana high court has asked the state government to frame appropriate guidelines to prevent any possible spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in view of Christmas and New Year.

Telangana on Tuesday reported seven new Omicron variant of Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s tally to 62. The state has achieved a key milestone in the battle against the pandemic by administering the first dose of Covid vaccines to 100% of eligible beneficiaries. Of the seven cases, four were passengers who arrived at the international airport from countries other than those declared ‘at risk’ by the Centre, while three were contacts of patients who tested positive for the variant earlier.

Also Read: Bank Holiday: Banks would be closed for 16 days in January 2022

Meanwhile, the state today reported 228 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally to 6,81,072, while the death toll rose to 4,024 with one more fatality. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 110, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (20) district.