Thiruvananthapuram: The bar owners’ association has rejected the allegation of a voice message suggesting to pay crores for concessions in the liquor policy. They have not made any collection in the last seven years. Sunil Kumar, president of the Federation of Kerala Hotels Association, responded that the money was requested from the members for the funds required for the construction of the building.
Bars were banned in Kerala when he became president. Later, when the LDF government came to power, the bar was opened. There was no such allegation then. Then came covid. Even then, the government allowed the industry to go ahead without any trouble. There were two elections during that period. If something had to be done, it should have been done when the bar was opened.
Now there are around 820 hotels in Kerala. He is not aware of a single hotel paying to obtain a license. There are 650 members in this organization. It was decided to buy a building in Thiruvananthapuram for the organization. However, there were some people in the organization who were of the opinion that there is no need for an office in Thiruvananthapuram as there is an office in Ernakulam. This was decided twice but could not be implemented. It was decided to implement the decision for the third time.
Although the organization has 650 members, only about four and a half crore rupees have been received from 450 members. It was bought from each member for one lakh rupees. Only 5-6 days left for this contract to expire. 5 crores and 60 lakhs to be paid to the land owner. About 60 lakh rupees is also required for registration expenses. With this, the members of the executive committee asked for a loan of two and a half lakh rupees each to the state committee to raise funds.
Animone and others objected to the request for a loan. It has been two months since he held talks with people from Kollam and Thrissur to split the organisation. It was discussed in the presence of Anemone in the discussion held the other day. Subsequently, it was decided to suspend him as well. Sunil Kumar also said that he left there immediately.
