Hyderabad: Bars and liquor shops are all set to be kept open for longer hours in Telangana.

The new excise policy of Telangana government, which will come into force from October 1, is set to extend working hours for bars and liquor shops by one more hour in the night.

A draft copy of excise policy has been submitted to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday. Mr Rao convened a meeting with officials at the Secretariat on Friday to finalise the policy. However, no decision was taken on extending working hours in Friday’s meeting. It was decided to meet again and discuss before taking a final decision on this issue.

At present, liquor shops are allowed to operate from 11 am to 10 pm and bars from 11 am to 12 midnight. But there is condition for bars to serve liquor only till 11 pm and serve only food from 11 pm to 12 midnight. Liquor shop owners are demanding to extend the timings by two hours from 10 am to 11 pm while bar owners are demanding to allow them to serve liquor till 12 midnight instead of 11 pm. Earlier, liquor shops used to be open till 11 pm. But then Kiran Kumar Reddy’s government had reduced the timings by two hours by fixing 11 am to 10 pm.

However, there is public outcry, especially from women against extension of closing time by one more hour for liquor shops till 11 pm. Most of liquor shops have turned into open-bars with people consuming alcohol right in front of the shops and creating problems for passers-by especially women and girls.