Gandhinagar: The Gujarat govt has reportedly taken an in-principle decision to accord direct approval of liquor permit shops in four- and five-star hotels of the state, top sources said. The decision has been taken to steer clear of procedural delays in granting permissions to hotels to run liquor permit shops even as Ahmedabad is gearing up to host international sporting events in the coming years.Sources said the govt also aims to ease the policy of granting permissions to liquor shops in three-star hotels as well in the near future. With this development, the liquor shop network in the state is set to expand rapidly.“While discussing probable ways to boost tourism in the state at last year’s Chintan Shibir, several officers proposed that the govt must relax norms concerning liquor shops in premium hotels,” said an official. The hotels association has for long been demanding that the govt adopt a more liberal approach in granting permissions for permit shops in hotels.Sources said that at present, it takes several weeks or more for getting approvals for starting permit shops after hotels have started operating. “In such a scenario, many hotels do not attract clients. The govt has taken a decision to provide permits even to hotels of three star category or below on a case-to-case basis. A proposal has also been mooted for relaxing prohibition norms in Kutch and places where tent cities exist, as these attract visitors in particular seasons mostly,” said a source.In Feb, the govt informed the assembly that the number of applications for new liquor permits in Ahmedabad increased by 227% in one year. In a written response to a question during question hour, the govt said that 292 new liquor applications were made between Jan 21, 2024 and Jan 20, 2025. Between Jan 1, 2025 and Jan 20, 2026, the number of new applications made for liquor permits were 956.During the just recently concluded assembly session, the govt also informed that in the past two years, licences were issued to 32 hotels in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts for selling liquor.Meanwhile, the state govt earned revenue of Rs 116.39 crore over two years from the sale of alcohol at permitted liquor shops in hotels in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, the state govt said during the assembly session.
