Pune Pub seized for selling illegal liquor

The state excise department of Pune has raided a pub in a mall located in eastern suburb - Hadapsar, which is known for IT parks in the city.

The pub has been seized for not taking the proper licenses for serving liquor in the city. The state excise department has seized liquor worth Rs 2.64 lakh from the outlet.

“The pub had been operating in a mall at Hadapsar without taking the mandatory licence from the department, based on a complaint, The department raided it and seized liquor worth over Rs 2.64 lakh,” said Vasant Kousadikar, Inspector, G division, state excise, Pune.

The excise department has also arrested four people in the matter including the owner and employees.

Adding to the same Kousadikar shared, “The liquor was brought to the pub from a microbrewery and hotel operated by the same management but located at a different place in the city. Though the liquor sold there was legal, it was brought here and sold illegally.”

The department has registered the selling and transporting the brew without any licence and transport permits by the operator.

According to the experts, the license required for running a bar and a pub need spending of approximately Rs 15,000 to Rs 20, 000 and is subject to approval within a week or a month depending on the legalities that the bar and a restaurant goes through.

"Otherwise, there are cases of liquor being sold illegally by dhabas or roadside hotels. But, here, a restaurant in a mall was selling it without a licence and was also advertising its wares openly," added Kousadikar.

Indian Made Foreign Liquor consumption rose by 7.84 per cent to end at 1,615.06 lakh bulk litres in 2013-14 versus 1,497.62 lakh bulk litres in 2012-13. Overall, beer constitutes just about 5 per cent of the total alcohol consumed in the country. However, the market is expected to reach $9 billion by 2016.

According to a research by Technopak, it is estimated that wine in India has penetrated only 1-2 million individuals, resulting in a very low per capita consumption at the national level. The global per capita consumption of wine is estimated at 4 litre per annum, while the Indian figure stands at 4.6 millilitres. According to industry estimates, the per capita consumption has gone up and is estimated to be 9-10 millilitres per annum.

Thus we can see that, Alcohol consumption which is rising in the country has seen several ups and down in the last six months, from banning the restaurants to sell liquor in Kerala to raiding a restaurant for not selling the legal liquor in Pune has been noticed in the country.