The method of selection for grant of shop licences shall be by "draw of lots", according to an order issued by Principal Secretary (Revenue) Asutosh Mishra.
The government, however, decided not to increase the number of authorised retail shops from the current 6,596. In Scheduled (tribal) Areas, the new policy says, license will be granted only to local Scheduled Tribes as first preference and to others only if no ST trader comes forward.
The state government decided to do away with the auction system, introduced by the then YS Rajasekhara Reddy government in 2005, for allocation of retail liquor shop licenses as it resulted in formation of cartels and sale of liquor at exorbitant rates.
The so-called liquor syndicates -- a nexus between traders, politicians, officials, police and journalists -- have been ruling the roost across the state and running countless unauthorised outlets, famously called "belt shops", making liquor freely available even in remote villages.
The auction system became so notorious that in many districts licensee fee for a single shop even in a remote village commanded ridiculously-high Rs 3 crore in many cases.
This helped the liquor syndicates thrive at the cost of the consumers but the government remained content as its coffers kept ringing.
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