Odisha, which is struggling to overcome the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic, plans to set up beach shacks to attract tourists to the state.

The excise policy announced on Thursday approved the setting up of beach shacks. It has also allowed the opening up of shacks near different water bodies such as rivers, lakes and dams, apart from sea beaches.

“For the purpose of tourism promotions, serving liquor in beach shacks is allowed in Odisha,” said the policy. It has also allowed the sale of liquor in the shacks set up near other water bodies.

The policy further said the licence for location and the number of beach shacks allowed for serving liquor will be based on the approval given by the government’s tourism department.

“On the beach, the activity is mostly concentrated in the evening. The entire day the tourists on the sea beach will remain bored. We need to engage them. Most tourists want liquor to be served to them. If we can extend their stay for two hours only, the tourists flow will increase by 10 per cent,” said an official of the Odisha Tourism Department.

He also cited how the shacks are an integral part of beach life in Goa.

In 2021, the Odisha tourism department had planned to set up beach shacks in six places of the state including Puri sea beach. But following protest, it had withdrawn from the proposal ‘ Now we are making another attempt this time to set up beach shacks and the excise department has approved the sale of liquor,” said an official.

As per the excise policy, the beach shacks will be allowed to operate throughout the year or for a period decided by the tourism department depending on the climatic conditions. “The operators of the beach shacks will be either through the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) directly or through beach shacks operators engaged by OTDC,” said the policy. All liquor will be done by the OTDC only.

The new excise policy also gives its nod to a marginal increase in excise duty for Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and minimum guarantee quota (MGQ). It has also increased the application fees for issuing and renewal of the licence of “Off shops” from Rs 1.1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh. However, it has made it clear that there would be no grant of the new application for an “ON” shop licence for rural areas.