No new liquor licences, orders President

Prohibition radius to be strictly enforced

As the Excise Department prepares to strictly enforce new rules pertaining to the positioning of liquor shops and bars, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered that no new licences should be issued.

Nearly 3,100 liquor licenses are to be renewed islandwide as they are valid only for three years and expire on January 1 next year. Thus, licensees are required to renew their licences before the date of expiry, Excise Department Commissioner General Parakrama Ekanayake Bandara said.

The Department last week announced that any licensed liquor shop within a one kilometre radius of a sacred area should be shifted outside the boundary. It said any liquor shop in violation of this rule would not have their licences renewed.

A gazette notification published on August 3 stipulates that the minimum distance between premises engaged in the outdoor sale of liquor and boundaries of schools and public places of worship as 100 metres, and that distance between premises selling liquor for consumption within the premises and the above mentioned institutions to be 500 metres.

The gazette notice states that premises situated within the specified distance should be relocated before December 19 2006, so as not to violate the gazette requirements. The areas that come under the category of sacred places have been clearly demarcated by the Country and Town Planning Department Commissioner.

“If the shops fail to follow the rules we will take steps to close them down as under the gazette notification the Commissioner General has the power to do so,” added Mr. Bandara.

Divisional Secretaries have been instructed to issue the licences before December 15, 2006. (CD)