Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Excise Minister Brijendra Singh Rathore here on Thursday clarified that there would not be exclusive liquor shops for women in the State. While talking to media persons here, Rathore said, “These are liquor shops meant for sale of branded foreign liquor in cities and I am not aware about anything like the concept of all-women liquor outlets.”
Notably, some media reports quoting Commercial Tax Dept senior officials had suggested that in order to boost revenues and facilitate women in buying high end wine and whiskey, outlets exclusive for women were being opened in the state on the lines of metro cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.
“It was seen for long that there were people in the state who prefer branded foreign liquor which is not available on normal liquor outlets and they have to source it from either foreign countries, airports and others which causes revenue loss to the state so we decided to open two branded liquor shops each at Bhopal and Indore and one each at Gwalior and Jabalpur to tap revenues,” Rathore said underlining the fact that there is nothing like all-women exclusive shops.
“I have absolutely no idea about this.” When asked specifically that if he isn’t aware about all-women shops, whether it means there is no such plan, the minister replied in affirmative. The minister however added that the makers of branded liquors would be asked to set up their own outlets and sell their products.