LAHORE: Alcohol sale will start next month in a hotel built near the Lahore airport. The Excise and Taxation Department Punjab had issued a licence to sell alcohol to the Royal International hotel...

LAHORE: Alcohol sale will start next month in a hotel built near the Lahore airport. The Excise and Taxation Department Punjab had issued a licence to sell alcohol to the Royal International hotel in January. Sources said such a licence has been issued in Lahore after 22 years. The last licence had been given to the Holiday Inn in 1997. Now the total number of hotels selling alcohol in Lahore will be five.

The sources said several hotels and canteens had applied for alcohol licence, but CM Shahbaz Sharif rejected all applications. The latest hotel getting the alcohol sale licence is owned by Peer Baghai Shah. Excise and Taxation Director General Akram Ashraf Gondal has issued the licence after getting approval from CM Usman Buzdar. Peer Baghai Shah also runs parking stands and shops at several airports of the country.