The Excise Department of the Delhi government has permitted licensees to shift their allotted liquor shops in non-conforming areas of the city to authorised market places in the same zones, official sources said on Thursday.

Last year, the Delhi government had also decided to allow opening two liquor vends in such wards having non-conforming areas that are largely unauthorised colonies in the city.

After the decision of the Excise department to allow the retail licensees to shift allotted liquor stores from non-conforming areas to authorized commercial areas in a zone, over 130 such stores will be able to open now.

The liquor stores in non-conforming areas could not open amid protests from various quarters including the Delhi BJP since the new policy came into force.?The three municipal corporations ruled by the BJP recently started sealing these liquor shops in non-conforming areas over alleged violations of Delhi Master Plan norms. Around 30 such shops were sealed while several others were served notices, sources said.

"There are 67 wards with non conforming areas where licences were issued for opening liquor vends. Now, these 134 shops may shift to authorise areas and start operation as per decision taken after a report by a committee formed by the government," a source said.

The report of the multi-agency committee found that it was not feasible to open liquor vends in non-conforming areas paving way for shifting the licensees to other authorised areas in the same zone.

Under the new excise policy, so far 564 shops out of total 849 licensed liquor vends have started operation in the city. According to the policy, each ward in a zone may have three-four liquor stores.?

With inputs from PTI.?