Bar regulars are having a tough time in the new financial year with most of their favourite joints pulling down shutters in want of licence.

The state excise department introduced a new set of norms (see graphics) for bar licence renewal, effective from April 1. Developing infrastructure to adhere to the stringent rules being a time-consuming affair, most bar owners could not renew their licence on time and are incurring heavy losses.

On March 31, the day the licence of the city bars and on- and off-shops of liquor expired, the state excise department issued a letter specifying the new norms for bar licence renewal. But it allegedly reached the bars on April 6, giving their owners virtually no time to develop the infrastructure to abide by the norms.

Nawal Kishore Singh, the president of the Patna district Foreign Liquor Retailers’ Association, told The Telegraph: “The bar licence is sanctioned by the excise department and then the district magistrate issues it for a year. The bars’ licence for the last financial year expired on March 31. The letter, which talks about the new norms, was issued on the same day and it reached the bars a week later.”

According to the new set of rules, bars should have at least 500sqft drinking area. There should be separate entrances and washrooms for bars and restaurants. Bihar sales tax (BST) and central sales tax (CST) numbers and a no-objection certificate for quality of food from the department or authority concerned have also been made mandatory. Though the operation of the on-shops was more or less similar to the bars, they were not brought under the ambit of the strict norms.

Most of the bar owners said they would have to tweak with the existing construction to follow the new norms. Also, procuring BST and CST numbers is a lengthy affair.

A representative of a popular bar-cum-restaurant at Hartali Mor said: “These things can be done, but will take time. One has to apply for the BST and CST numbers and involve an architect for setting up new doors and washrooms. The new directive should have been issued at least two months in advance.”

Singh echoed him. “If the excise department had to come up with the new rules, an intimation should have been given earlier so that the necessary changes could be made. The restaurants-cum-bars are closed for the past 12 days. The bigger bars can afford the changes. But the smaller ones cannot, as they involve a lot of planning. At present, there are around 70 bar-cum-restaurants in the state capital. More than 60 per cent of them are closed,” he said.

A representative of a bar-cum-restaurant said: “We are incurring a loss of almost Rs 50,000 daily. The operations of on-shops are similar to that of ours but they have not been brought under the ambit of the strict rules. It is unfair. For them, the licence renewal process has remained the same.”

Anand Kumar, an employee of the Oasis Bar and Restaurant on the Boring Road, said: “Each day we are incurring loss of up to Rs 50, 000. We expect to open our shop soon, but we cannot say when.”

Sources said the excise department would sanction licences following a thorough inspection of the bars after they make the changes.

Sources in the excise department said the stringent norms were laid down after its officers suspected mushrooming of restaurants serving alcohol. Excise commissioner Rahul Singh told The Telegraph: “The on-shops have been kept out of the purview of the new rules. But the department will keep a tab on the on-shops, too. If there is mushrooming of on-shops, we will frame new norms for them as well.”