Kerala’s Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh has clarified that the state government has not extended the operating hours of bars, but has instead unified them. Speaking to the media in Kannur, the Minister explained that the timings previously permitted for designated tourism destinations, which were from 10 AM to 12 AM, have now been made applicable to all bars across the state.
Minister Rajesh elaborated that this specific timing schedule has been in effect for tourism destinations for some time. He highlighted that the license fee for all bars, whether in tourism zones or not, stands uniformly at Rs 35 lakh. The presence of bars both within and immediately adjacent to notified tourism destinations had led to strong complaints of discrimination before the government. The demand for unified timings was also a long-standing issue. Considering these factors, the government decided to apply the timings prevalent in tourism destinations to all other bars, asserting that no new policy decision was made in this regard.
Furthermore, Rajesh stated that this decision also took into account the operational hours of bars in other South Indian states. In Karnataka, for instance, bars operate from 9 AM to 12 AM, while Bengaluru city has extended hours from 9 AM to 1 AM. He noted that the license fees in these areas are considerably lower compared to Kerala’s unified rate of Rs 35 lakh.