‘Liquor outlets at airports will be via open tender’

Panaji: A day after an association of liquor traders claimed that the state government was moving towards “cartelisation of liquor sale” in Goa, a government source said that while a notification permitting the issuance of liquor licences for alcohol sale at airports is on the cards, the process will involve an open tender and no particular entity will be benefitted.
President of the Goa Liquor Traders Association, Dattaprasad Naik, on Thursday claimed that a government was proposing to bring in a notification to facilitate the establishment of liquor outlets at Manohar International Airport in Mopa by a Mumbai-based entity. He had alleged that the law was being modified “for the benefit of someone from outside Goa”.
A government official in the know said that in an open tender, even a Goan would be able to bid for the setting up of such an outlet.
The official further said that since an airport is a restricted area, a government notification is essential if a licence is to be issued. Once the airport authority selects a bidder through an open tender, he/she will have to apply for a liquor licence to the excise department with an accompanying no-objection certificate from the airport authority, the official said.
“It is only then that the excise department will be able to proceed. Further action by the department is also subject to all documentation submitted by the applicant being in order,” the official explained.
Presently, the foremost condition to apply for a liquor licence in Goa is that the applicant must produce a 25-year residence certificate. It was in 2003, when Manohar Parrikar was chief minister, that this condition was introduced in the interest of Goans, and it still stands, the official added.