Say cheers. The government is planning to relax curbs on setting up foreign liquor off-shops and bars and drastically reduce the fee a bar-owner has to pay to keep his premises open beyond midnight.

According to the rules, a bar or an off-shop cannot be allowed within 1,000 ft of an educational institution or a place of worship. Excise officials see no justification for the curb in a city like Calcutta, where it is difficult to locate a spot that does not have an educational institution or a place of worship within 1,000 ft.

Excise officials said they could not issue licences to at least 100 bars and 25 off-shops because they fell within the banned zone. ?We are planning to reduce the distance and are consulting legal experts,? said an official.

Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India vice-president S.K. Khullar welcomed the move. ?Of course, as in other metros, there must be some curbs on setting up off-shops and bars in Calcutta. But the 1,000-ft clause has no relevance in a city where there is at least one educational institution or place of worship every 500 ft,?? he pointed out.

As for the other move, excise secretary K.S. Rajendrakumar said: ?We have decided to reduce the fee for extending bar timings, as we feel the current fee is quite steep and many owners cannot afford it. We will finalise the new fee shortly after another round of discussion with bar-owners.?

At present, bars in the city remain open till midnight and the last order for drinks has to be placed half-an-hour before.

Owners can delay closing time by a maximum of two hours by depositing a fee of Rs 10,000 a day with the excise department. The new fee, according to Rajendrakumar, will be between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000.

?Not just bar-owners and their guests, the fee reduction will also help the government by adding to the revenue. More bars will avail of the opportunity to keep their doors open till 2 am, resulting in a significant rise in the sale of liquor,? he reasoned.

A large number of people come to bars at late hours. ?We cannot serve them as we have to down shutters right at midnight. Barring two or three, most bars prefer not to extend the time limit because of the exorbitant fee,? said S.S. Kothari, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India.

?We have been urging the government for some time to reduce the fee. We are happy the excise department has acted on our plea,? he added.